China has slammed new guidelines defining the security partnership between Japan and the United States, calling them an attempt to undermine Beijing, as well as the geopolitical architecture of the Asia-Pacific.
“The new guidelines have struck a threatening pose toward China, which is the strongest driver for East Asia’s development. They should know that their aggression has sent a dangerous signal to regional stability,’’ said an editorial in the Global Times — a daily affiliated with the Communist Party of China.
Officials from the United States have been quoted as saying that the latest guidelines — updated for the first time since1997 — end the geographic limits on the Japanese military to operate.
Following permission from Parliament, Japanese forces can participate in military operations across the globe. “The current guidelines are unrestricted with respect to geography,” U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter has been quoted as saying. “That is a very big change — from being locally focused to globally focused,” he observed. Analysts point out that the changes to the U.S.-Japan pact injects more substance to President Barack Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” doctrine, which the Chinese say lays the military groundwork for containing Beijing’s peaceful rise.
A string of articles in the Chinese official media, have been vocal in rejecting the new parameters. The Chinese have been incensed by the joint decision taken by Washington and Tokyo to include the disputed Diyaoyu islands, which the Japanese call Senkaku, in the ambit of the new agreement. “Since the Cold War’s end, the U.S.-Japan alliance has never been so military-oriented as now. They no longer make efforts to hide their intention of containing China’s rise. This antagonistic trajectory has dealt another blow to the already vulnerable China-U.S. and China-Japan relations,” the Global Times said in the editorial.
‘Stepping back’
“The current Asia-Pacific geopolitical structure is on the verge of destruction,” it observed. The write-up also warned that Japan was stepping back in historical issues and leaning to the right in internal politics. “Relaxing the restraints on the Japanese military forces will trigger enormous controversies in Japan’s neighbourhood.”
A write-up published in the People’s Daily — China’s official newspaper — also attributes the shift in position by Tokyo and Washington to China’s rising influence, which became evident when many prominent members of the Atlantic Alliance broke ranks and joined the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank.
