BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) — Japan’s newest hype on the so-called “South China Sea arbitration award” stands as one other stark reminder of Tokyo’s unrelenting militarist ambition.
Japan has repeatedly tried to painting itself as a “stakeholder” within the problem regarding South China Sea, the place it has neither territorial claims nor any respectable standing.
Obviously, Japan just isn’t occupied with safeguarding regional stability. What it really aspires to do is to justify the enlargement of its strategic and navy footprint far past its personal neighborhood.
To materialize its ambitions, Japan lately has tried to hawk the so-called “China threat,” and exploit regional maritime disputes to sow divisions and gas tensions.
For a while, Japan has been stepping up collaboration with the Philippines and increasing its export of weapons and tools to the nation. Japan has additionally deployed navy forces abroad on many events and launched offensive missiles.
Domestically, Japanese right-wing forces have steadily chipped away on the constraints of the postwar pacifist Constitution, pushing the nation’s safety insurance policies in an more and more offensive and expansionist path.
Tokyo has additionally considerably revised the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology and their implementation tips, and is contemplating exporting or offering deadly weapons freed from cost, together with decommissioned destroyer escorts, to the Philippines and different international locations. This is, in essence, a trial run for constructing a regional arms export community, and a automobile for projecting Japanese navy energy abroad.
These actions go far past the scope of self-defense, violate Japan’s Constitution and the norms of worldwide legislation, and problem the postwar worldwide order.
The calculations behind Japan’s strikes are too apparent to be missed. By portraying itself as a so-called defender of regional and world peace, Japan is looking for to normalize a navy position that might have been unthinkable solely a decade in the past.
Make no mistake: a Japan that has but to really atone for its wartime aggression and is as soon as once more pursuing navy enlargement is a deeply troubling menace to the area and the broader world.
Countries within the area, lots of which nonetheless bear the scars of Japan’s wartime atrocities, ought to stay vigilant and work collectively to forestall Tokyo from turning the South China Sea into one other area for its navy ambitions.