"Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has used his time on the world stage to unleash a new verbal salvo against Beijing. While addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Abe decried "an immediate neighbor" for swelling its military budget by more than 10% annually. Abe, who plans on increasing Tokyo's military budget by 3% this year, defiantly exclaimed "So call me, if you want, a right-wing militarist."
At a news conference in New York, Abe said Chinese vessels persistently test the waters around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands: "The intrusions by Chinese government vessels in our territorial waters are continuing, to our regret. However, Japan will not make a concession on our territorial sovereignty."
Spokesperson Geng Yansheng quoted an ancient Chinese proverb to counter Abe's claims: "A gentleman is open and poised; a petty man is unhappy and worried. Whoever is overreacting has a 'ghost' in his mind."
The essential issue defining Sino-Japanese relations is a rapid and unprecedented shift in relative power between the two nations. China only overtook Japan as the world's second largest economy within the last three years; now the Chinese economy is half and again the size of Japan's. The simple fact is China has ever-increasing resources to spend on military hardware, while Japan does not. Even in the absence of a tragic history of invasion and massacre, and a lingering territorial dispute, this power dynamic would cause significant geopolitical tension.
Besides the hard figures on GDP and military spending, there are even more significant statistics affecting the most important bilateral relationship in East Asia. China is Japan's number one trading partner by a large margin. Japan is China's second-largest source of foreign trade, after the United States. The volume of trade between the two countries is well over US$300 billion per year - more than six times Abe's proposed military budget for Tokyo.
Two days after Abe's speech blasting China's military expansion, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed the UN General Assembly. Wang acknowledged concerns about China's growing regional and global influence:
China borders more nations than any other country in the world - and some of these neighbors are significant global actors. In the event of a unilateral push for military supremacy, Beijing could find itself countered by a potent alliance involving India, Japan, and possibly Russia. China could face significant geopolitical resistance, even in the absence of the massive military assets of the United States in South Korea, Japan, and the Pacific.
At a news conference in New York, Abe said Chinese vessels persistently test the waters around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands: "The intrusions by Chinese government vessels in our territorial waters are continuing, to our regret. However, Japan will not make a concession on our territorial sovereignty."
Spokesperson Geng Yansheng quoted an ancient Chinese proverb to counter Abe's claims: "A gentleman is open and poised; a petty man is unhappy and worried. Whoever is overreacting has a 'ghost' in his mind."
The essential issue defining Sino-Japanese relations is a rapid and unprecedented shift in relative power between the two nations. China only overtook Japan as the world's second largest economy within the last three years; now the Chinese economy is half and again the size of Japan's. The simple fact is China has ever-increasing resources to spend on military hardware, while Japan does not. Even in the absence of a tragic history of invasion and massacre, and a lingering territorial dispute, this power dynamic would cause significant geopolitical tension.
Besides the hard figures on GDP and military spending, there are even more significant statistics affecting the most important bilateral relationship in East Asia. China is Japan's number one trading partner by a large margin. Japan is China's second-largest source of foreign trade, after the United States. The volume of trade between the two countries is well over US$300 billion per year - more than six times Abe's proposed military budget for Tokyo.
Two days after Abe's speech blasting China's military expansion, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed the UN General Assembly. Wang acknowledged concerns about China's growing regional and global influence:
As China has enjoyed fast development over the years, some people are concerned that China may repeat the beaten track that a country will inevitably become arrogant and seek hegemony when it grows in strength and becomes powerful; and various versions of China threat have surfaced… However, what happened in the past cannot be applied indiscriminately to today's China … We are committed to working with others to establish a new type of international relations based on win-win cooperation and seek peaceful resolution of international and regional disputes.There are several reasons why Wang's pledge may be grounded in strategic reality.
China borders more nations than any other country in the world - and some of these neighbors are significant global actors. In the event of a unilateral push for military supremacy, Beijing could find itself countered by a potent alliance involving India, Japan, and possibly Russia. China could face significant geopolitical resistance, even in the absence of the massive military assets of the United States in South Korea, Japan, and the Pacific.
Furthermore, it is very much in China's economic interests to avoid regional conflict. China does more international trade than any other country on earth. Any adventurism that threatened this trade would pose huge economic and political risks to the rulers in Beijing.
Given the economic and strategic realities of East Asia, in the long run both nations will have little choice but to reach some sort of accommodation".
Source: Brendan P O'Reilly
Asia Times
