Japan's provoking of China will do it no good: China Daily editorial

Japan will likely send an active-duty security attache to Taiwan this summer to facilitate communication and enhance the intelligence capability of the island, according to reports.

If this proves to be the case, it would mean Japan is going a step further in its provocative moves against China.

Beijing will undoubtedly adopt countermeasures to let Japan know that it is in danger of crossing its bottom line.

In a telephone conversation on Tuesday with Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba, who is also secretary-general of Japan's National Security Secretariat, Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that relations between the two countries are facing difficulties and challenges, which should not be ignored.

Yang also reiterated Beijing's stand on Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

That Yang was cautioning Tokyo about the risks inherent in the change of its policy toward the island should go without saying.

It is not stretching credulity to believe that Japan's right-wing political forces harbor the intention of pulling Taiwan away from China with such moves. And that they believe the United States' strategy to contain China has provided them with such an opportunity.

With Japan's 2021 defense strategy emphasizing for the first time the importance of maintaining stability across the Taiwan Straits, along with remarks by some Japanese politicians on Taiwan, it seems as if Japan still considers the island, which it occupied for half a century, part of its sphere of influence.

They even believe that Japan serving as a tool of the US' "Indo-Pacific" strategy will make it possible for Japan to develop as a military power again.

However, Japan needs to be reminded that neither China nor East Asia is what it was.

The ill intention of reviving its militarist part and its interference in China's internal affairs by getting involved in the Taiwan question will bring Japan no good. Increasing animosity with China by provoking it will not only sabotage the stability of East Asia, but also damage Japan's own interests.

Japan should not forget what its old generation of politicians promised when China and Japan established diplomatic relations 50 years ago.

What the close cooperation between China and Japan has brought to Japan and East Asia over the past five decades should also serve as a reminder of how Japan should play its role to contribute to peace and development in the region.