Japan yesterday urged China to improve transparency on its military affairs, voicing concern about the rapid growth in defense spending by its giant neighbor.
"Japan will continue watching the growing Chinese military expenditure and modernization of its force as some of it is still not transparent," the foreign ministry said in an annual report on Japanese diplomacy.
"Japan will urge China to make further efforts to increase transparency," said the report submitted to the Cabinet by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso.
The report voiced concern that China's military expenditure "has been boosted more than 10 percent [annually] for 18 consecutive years."
It was the first time that the annual report explicitly called on Beijing to improve military transparency, although senior Japanese officials have repeatedly made similar comments. But the report also for the first time welcomed economic growth in China, which is Japan's largest commercial partner.
"The government welcomes China's economic rise with the basic understanding that its development is a `good opportunity,'" the report said.
"Japan's forward-looking basic policy to develop the Japan-China relationship will not change."
Commercial ties between China and Japan have grown steadily even as political relations remain tense. The relationship has deteriorated over the past year as China, the only Asian nation with veto power on the UN Security Council, blocked Japan's bid for a permanent seat, arguing that Tokyo had not atoned for its aggression in the 20th century. But the report said Japan would keep trying to win a permanent council seat alongside three other nations whose joint bid flopped last year.
"Japan will continue making efforts to actualize reform of the Security Council while continuing to cooperate with Germany, India and Brazil and continuing negotiating with other countries," the report said.
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