Recent events in East Asia within the last few weeks now gradually confirm widespread speculations from ‘dissident’ writers and several alternative media outlets that a plot to destabilize China and the Asia Pacific region as a whole is being cooked within various circles in the United States and by its Asian allies – particularly Japan and South Korea, in the name of “containing China’s rise”.
Few days ago, Japan which shares a maritime border with China unveiled changes to its national defense policies in a so-called response to China’s military rise, and warning that Beijing’s military build-up was of global concern.
According to the national defense policies which will shape Japan’s defense activities for the next 10 years, the military focus will now be in the south of Japan, closer to China and remote flashpoint islands near Taiwan. This means that defense will be scaled down in the north, where they have been deployed since the Cold War to counter potential threats from the former Soviet Union.
The national defense program guidelines say Japan is concerned by China’s growing military spending, modernization of its armed forces, and increased naval assertiveness in the East China and South China seas, the BBC reported.
“These movements, coupled with the lack of transparency on China’s military and security issues, the trend is a concern for the region and the international community,” the BBC quoted the guidelines as saying.
It will however be naive if one were to look at Japan’s concerns over China’s military might in isolation of certain occurrences prior to this time when such concerns were openly expressed by Japan.
Japan is a key ally to the United States. The U.S. has an almost 50,000-strong troop presence in Japan. Japanese military officials call the Japan-U.S. alliance “indispensable”, and both countries hold agreements to defend each other should their interests be at stake. Japan is strongly against North Korea – and of course the new defense policy guidelines have described North Korea’s military build-up as a “pressing and serious destabilizing factor”.
It is as such evident that U.S. and Japan are covertly implicating China for a possible attack especially with the situation in the Korean peninsular whereby Japan, U.S. and China are all key players – even though China has persistently sued for peace in the Peninsular.
Japan has made it clear that its new military policies are aimed at containing the rising might of the Chinese military. But by giving a global warning over China’s military might, while further accusing China for the lack of transparency in its military and security issues, it is of no doubt that someday, and maybe not far from now, China will be accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction, thereby giving another opportunity to the U.S. and its allies to wage war on China.
It is an open secret that China is a stumbling bloc to U.S. interests in East Asia. By desperately interfering in regional issues in the Asia Pacific region – issues that should be left in the hands of sovereign nations, and by wanting to station its forces along border lines with China, the U.S. indirectly makes known its intension to counter-attack China’s growing influence in the region.
At this point in time, the world should stay awake with regards to events and occurrences in East Asia. The unraveling of events in this region gradually points to a similar campaign that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent hanging of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. First, fingers from the west pointed to the existence of weapons of mass destruction, then to a threat of a possible unleashing of nuclear attacks on ‘enemies’ regimes by Saddam Hussein, and finally to the general threat of chaos which could possibly be perpetrated by Saddam’s leadership in the Middle East. Other accusations followed with some western war mongers pointing to Iraq as a safe haven for terrorists. That is how Iraq was aligned to the queue of “axis of evil” by then U.S. president George W. Bush Jr., thus giving reason why Iraq had to be invaded and Saddam Hussein hanged.
It should therefore not surprise any person in the world if the smear campaigns against China by the U.S. and its allies later align China along the “axis of evil” – giving reason why China should be ‘contained’ – that is, attacked; else, how can any body on earth explain why Japan is announcing to the world that China’s growing military strength should be of global concern. This has equally puzzled Chinese officials, and China’s Foreign Ministry has said that no country had the right to make irresponsible comments on China’s development. China’s stance is that the country’s force is for peace and development in Asia and threatens no one.
Relations between Japan and China deteriorated sharply in September, after collisions between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats near a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea. But instead of seeking better ways of settling the issue, Japan preferred to call for a global alert on China’s military might. This is “witch-hunting” diplomacy.
Instead of a global concern being put on China’s military, the world should rather pay unusual attention to the skeletons – the hidden motives that could possibly give a deeper understanding as to why Japan raised such a delinquent alarm concerning the military strength of China. A covert war against China is indeed being cooked.