Islands are root of tension

US-Japan military talks

The Ministry of National Defense told China Daily on Thursday that Beijing "firmly opposes any attempt that may aggravate or complicate the situation" in response to ongoing US-Japan defense contingencies regarding the Diaoyu Islands.

Japanese media reported that Japan and the United States have started mapping out joint operational plans over the Diaoyu Islands and the entire East China Sea.

Shigeru Iwasaki, chief of the Joint Staff of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, and Samuel Locklear, commander of the US Pacific Command, were scheduled to meet in Hawaii on Thursday and Friday, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported.

Japan had sounded out the US on devising joint contingency plans in light of concerns that an accidental clash over the islands in the East China Sea could develop into "an armed conflict" between Asia's two biggest economies, Kyodo said.

"The Chinese army's determination and will in defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unshakable," the ministry said in a written reply.

Washington and Tokyo are expected to agree on accelerating the drafting of the plans, Kyodo quoted unnamed sources as saying.

The news came in the wake of the Japanese media's recent hype over the alleged naval "radar lock-on" incident.

Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the People's Liberation Army Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said Japan is trying to hype a false alarm by projecting the image that "China has inched to the brink of war".

"And Tokyo is sparing no effort in exaggerating the so-called common threat to the US-Japan alliance in an attempt to force Washington to lift restrictions on Japan's military expansion plan," Zhang said.

Beijing has dismissed Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera's claim in early February that a Chinese navy vessel had "locked its fire-control radar" on a Japanese destroyer in the East China Sea in late January.

Tokyo has failed to provide any evidence for the allegation.

 

Liu Yedan contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn