Japan has to make the right choice

The Japanese Diplomatic Bluebook 2013, which reviews the international situation and Japan's diplomacy in 2012, says China's increasingly active maritime activities to maintain its maritime rights and interests have raised concerns among regional countries as well as the international community. The bluebook or annual diplomatic report, presented by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida at a cabinet meeting on April 5, emphasizes that the Japan-US security alliance is crucial for the Asia-Pacific region, where the situation is worsening.

Japan has been playing up the "China threat" theory with an ulterior motive: to use it as a ruse to transform itself into a "military power". To help push forward the "pivot to Asia" policy of the United States, Japan (and the Republic of Korea) has held frequent joint military exercises with the US in recent years, posing a serious threat to security in East Asia. Not surprisingly, the Japanese bluebook is silent on this.

The annual diplomatic report says that given the growing importance of the Asia-Pacific region, the international community's existing decision-making mechanism has reached its limit and Japan finds itself in an increasingly challenging security environment that poses a threat to its people and territory. The report claims that Chinese public service vessels "invaded" Japan's territorial waters several times last year, and Chinese aircraft violated Japanese airspace and a Chinese navy vessel trained its fire control radar on a Japanese ship in the East China Sea.

As is well known, Chinese public service vessels enforce maritime laws and safeguard the passage of ships and cargo in China's territorial waters. And there is nothing to prove that Chinese aircraft have violated Japanese airspace. The fact, however, is that Sino-Japanese relations have soured because of Japan's decision to "nationalize" the Diaoyu Islands.

The security situation in East Asia is indeed serious, but the actions of the US and its allies are to be blamed for that. Japan and the US have been playing up the "China threat" theory since the mid-1990s to create an "imaginary enemy" after the disintegration of the Soviet Union so that they could strengthen their military alliance.