Dangerous trend building up steam in Tokyo: China Daily editorial

According to a weekend survey by the Nikkei and TV Tokyo, 61 percent of respondents said they "approved" of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's talks with visiting US President Joe Biden, in which he pledged to "substantially increase" Japan's defense budget.

Should his ruling Liberal Democratic Party win a decisive victory in July's election, Kishida will also have the time and backing to focus on a policy program that includes revising Japan's pacifist Constitution at some point in the future.

During Biden's trip, Tokyo also hosted a summit of the Quad countries, a security alliance the US has pieced together with Japan, India and Australia and which Washington seems determined to mold into an Asian NATO.

It is therefore no surprise that Japan intends to "drastically strengthen" its military capabilities, according to a draft of the government's proposed economic policy.

As demonstrated during Biden's recent visit, Tokyo has fully bought into Washington's portrayals of China as a threat to regional security in East Asia, and it has eagerly jumped on Washington's Indo-Pacific contain-China bandwagon.

Despite it acknowledging that it is a political tool rather than a vehicle for promoting regional economic cooperation, Tokyo also endorsed the so-called Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity that Biden announced during his visit.

Tokyo has also followed Washington's lead by making provocative remarks on the Taiwan question and the South China Sea issues. It has even followed in the US' footsteps by creating an internal strategy group within its foreign ministry that is tasked with collecting and analyzing political, economic and diplomatic intelligence related to China with a view to better coordinating its China policy with that of the US.

Clearly the country is accelerating its efforts and making big strides in breaking away from the constraints of its pacifist Constitution.

Such a tendency shows Japan will dutifully serve as the "deputy sheriff" of the US in the latter's strategic maneuvering in the Asia-Pacific region, which combined with its own ambitions for regional primacy means the regional security risks will become increasingly severe.

While it has the wherewithal to respond to any provocations, China has repeatedly urged Japan to look to the big picture of bilateral ties and regional peace and stability.

Although these have consistently been ignored, it continues to call on Japan to rethink its role in the region and the consequences of inviting a wolf into the house, lest the tragedy of the Ukrainian crisis be repeated in Asia.