Japan yesterday slammed Beijing’s bid to reclaim land in the South China Sea as a “coercive attempt” to force sweeping maritime claims, in a defense paper that comes as Tokyo is expanding the role of its own military.
Tokyo said China is acting “unilaterally and without compromise,” as it also highlighted concern about North Korea’s nuclear program and Russian moves in violence-wracked Ukraine.
The white paper accused Beijing of “raising concerns among the international community” as it ramped up criticism from last year’s report, an annual summary of Japan’s official views on defense matters.
“China, particularly over maritime issues, continues to act in an assertive manner, including coercive attempts at changing the status quo, and is poised to fulfil its unilateral demands without compromise,” the report titled Defense of Japan 2015 said.
China is locked in disputes with several countries over its claims to almost the entire South China Sea and is currently pursuing a rapid program of artificial island construction in the region.
It is also embroiled in a separate row with Japan over the Tokyo-controlled Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), also claimed by Taiwan and called the Senkaku Islands in Japan in the East China Sea, as Chinese ships and aircraft regularly test Japanese forces in the area.
While the Sino-Japanese spat has cooled considerably over the past 12 months or so, observers have warned that it could spiral into a limited armed conflict.
Separately, Japan has complained that China might have started offshore drilling for gas in the disputed waters.
“Japan has repeatedly lodged protests against China’s unilateral development and demanded the termination of such works,” the report said.
The document repeated Tokyo’s concerns over China’s growing assertiveness and widening naval reach in the Pacific and over what it calls the “opaqueness” of Beijing’s sky-rocketing military budget.
However, it also said that China has worked to set up an emergency hotline with Tokyo to prevent unintended conflicts at sea.
Last week, China criticized Tokyo after the lower house of parliament passed bills that could see Japanese troops fight abroad for the first time since World War II, in provisions that allow for so-called “collective defense” — coming to the aid of allies under attack.
A fraught mutual history makes Beijing particularly sensitive to any suggestion that Japan might abandon its pacifism.
Millions of Chinese died in the years after Japanese forces launched a full-scale invasion of the country in 1937.
However, Tokyo’s move to give greater leeway to its well-equipped and well-trained military is far from popular at home, and polls show approval ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — the driving force behind the changes — are plunging.
A new weekend poll showed just 35 percent of voters positively rated Abe, his lowest level since coming to power in 2012.
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