Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kicks off his first trip after taking
office to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia today. Global media all
connect his trip with the intense state of the Sino-Japanese
relationship. They consider that the purpose of this action is to
contain China. Even some people in Japan shouted that they want to
"encircle China."
Reuters
- Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and his Vietnamese counterpart
Nguyen Tan Dung review the guard of honour during a welcoming ceremony
at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi January 16, 2013
Encircling China? Those people may not know
what they are talking about. Some people in Japan seem like paranoids
who expect that China can be encircled. Some Japanese politicians are
also not sober enough, such as Abe, who raised the proposal of "the arc
of freedom and prosperity" in his previous term.
According to the
Sankei Shimbun, Abe raised another strategy, suggesting that Australia,
India, Japan, and the US Hawaii form a diamond to safeguard the
maritime commons stretching from the Indian Ocean region to East China
Sea. Areas such as China's Diaoyu Islands and South China Sea islands
are all encircled by it. Sankei Shimbun said that the strategy is raised
to contain China which is increasingly active in the ocean.
China
is too large for this. It will be a joke in international strategy
circles if Japan seeks to encircle China. It cannot achieve this goal
even if it cooperates with the US.
Abe's visit to Southeast Asia
will not bring China a sense of crisis. We can understand that Japan
wants to strengthen its interests in Southeast Asia when the prospects
of Sino-Japanese relations look bleak. We have no interest in competing
for influence in Southeast Asia.
Japan in Asia is a good thing
for China. There is no hope for Japan to defeat China strategically even
there's a war between the two. However, Japan brings us stimulation and
vigilance. It warns what kind of external resistance China may face in
its future rise.
China should both take Japan seriously and be
indifferent at the strategic level. Despite the prominence of the
dispute, Japan is only a small part of the strategic hidden dangers for
China.
If Abe's trip to Southeast Asia is aimed at "containing
China," he can only reduce Japan's role on the political stage of Asia.
The trip will only be a show without substantive content. Maybe Abe's
cabinet is not so stupid. They want to expand Japan's economic space
"after the Sino-Japanese friendship."
As to anti-Japanese feeling
in Chinese public opinion, we should prevent it from being a trap for
ourselves. We cannot be overly angry with Japan, concentrate all
attention to Japan and forget others.
It should be Japan that
worries most about Sino-Japanese relations, instead of China. China is
rising and we are the driving force of changes in Asian geopolitics.
Just let Japan mess about in China's surrounding areas. Japan's
negotiations with claimants in South China Sea disputes will have no
effect. It will be no better than a kind of self-comforting.
Frequent
changes of Japanese cabinet have resulted in many political actions for
show. Toward Japan, China should not only be cautious, but not to
overreact.- Global Times
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