Abe: Japan Ready to Counter China
October 26, 2013
TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in an
interview published on Saturday, said Japan was ready to be more
assertive towards China as Beijing threatened to strike back if
provoked.
A top retired Chinese diplomat said any move by Tokyo to contain China could amount to an attempt to conceal ulterior motives in the region and prove to be "extremely dangerous."
And the defense ministry warned Japan not to underestimate China's resolve to take whatever measures were needed to protect itself.
Abe, interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, said Japan should take the lead in guarding against what he said might be an attempt by China to use force to attain its diplomatic goals.
He said he had realized at recent meetings with South East Asian leaders that the region sought leadership from Tokyo in terms of security amid China's more forthright diplomacy.
"There are concerns that China is attempting to change the status quo by force, rather than by rule of law. But if China opts to take that path, then it won't be able to emerge peacefully," he told the newspaper.
"So it shouldn't take that path and many nations expect Japan to strongly express that view. And they hope that as a result, China will take responsible action in the international community."
China took issue with a Japanese media report saying Abe had approved a policy for Japan to shoot down foreign drones that ignore warnings to leave its airspace.
"Don't underestimate the Chinese army's resolute will and determination to protect China's territorial sovereignty," Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said on the ministry's website.
"If Japan does resort to enforcement measures like shooting down aircraft, that is a serious provocation to us, an act of war.
"We will undertake decisive action to strike back, with every consequence borne by the side that caused the trouble," Geng added.
Disputed Islands
Relations have deteriorated sharply in the past year, with the main sticking point being conflicting claims to uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, known in Japan as the Senkaku islands and in China as Diaoyu. Ties have taken a further battering over visits by Japanese lawmakers this month to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo honoring both war dead and Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals.
China is also at odds with several South East Asian states contesting its claims to large swathes of the South China Sea.
Former Chinese foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan, addressing a forum in Beijing, said that Japan hoped to enlist the United Nations and the international community to curb China's actions in the region, according to media reports.
Tang made no reference to Abe's latest comments, but said any attempt to contain China either amounted to a distorted view of China or "the rendering of an image of the 'Chinese menace' to achieve an ulterior political goal."
"I hope it's the former, because if it's the latter, not only is it futile, it is also extremely dangerous."
President Xi Jinping adopted a more conciliatory tone at a conference on diplomacy this week, saying good relations with neighbors were crucial to a stable foreign policy.
Abe took office last year for a rare second term and is seen as a hawkish nationalist with a conservative agenda that includes revising a post-war pacifist constitution drafted by the United States, strengthening Japan's defense posture and recasting wartime history with a less apologetic tone.
A top retired Chinese diplomat said any move by Tokyo to contain China could amount to an attempt to conceal ulterior motives in the region and prove to be "extremely dangerous."
And the defense ministry warned Japan not to underestimate China's resolve to take whatever measures were needed to protect itself.
Abe, interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, said Japan should take the lead in guarding against what he said might be an attempt by China to use force to attain its diplomatic goals.
He said he had realized at recent meetings with South East Asian leaders that the region sought leadership from Tokyo in terms of security amid China's more forthright diplomacy.
"There are concerns that China is attempting to change the status quo by force, rather than by rule of law. But if China opts to take that path, then it won't be able to emerge peacefully," he told the newspaper.
"So it shouldn't take that path and many nations expect Japan to strongly express that view. And they hope that as a result, China will take responsible action in the international community."
China took issue with a Japanese media report saying Abe had approved a policy for Japan to shoot down foreign drones that ignore warnings to leave its airspace.
"Don't underestimate the Chinese army's resolute will and determination to protect China's territorial sovereignty," Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said on the ministry's website.
"If Japan does resort to enforcement measures like shooting down aircraft, that is a serious provocation to us, an act of war.
"We will undertake decisive action to strike back, with every consequence borne by the side that caused the trouble," Geng added.
Disputed Islands
Relations have deteriorated sharply in the past year, with the main sticking point being conflicting claims to uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, known in Japan as the Senkaku islands and in China as Diaoyu. Ties have taken a further battering over visits by Japanese lawmakers this month to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo honoring both war dead and Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals.
China is also at odds with several South East Asian states contesting its claims to large swathes of the South China Sea.
Former Chinese foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan, addressing a forum in Beijing, said that Japan hoped to enlist the United Nations and the international community to curb China's actions in the region, according to media reports.
Tang made no reference to Abe's latest comments, but said any attempt to contain China either amounted to a distorted view of China or "the rendering of an image of the 'Chinese menace' to achieve an ulterior political goal."
"I hope it's the former, because if it's the latter, not only is it futile, it is also extremely dangerous."
President Xi Jinping adopted a more conciliatory tone at a conference on diplomacy this week, saying good relations with neighbors were crucial to a stable foreign policy.
Abe took office last year for a rare second term and is seen as a hawkish nationalist with a conservative agenda that includes revising a post-war pacifist constitution drafted by the United States, strengthening Japan's defense posture and recasting wartime history with a less apologetic tone.
2013年 10月 25日 20:24
安倍晉三敦促中國不要以武力改變亞太現狀
日
本首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)週五表示，很多國家擔心中國企圖通過使用武力來改變亞洲地區現狀，日本作為亞洲地區領導者要敦促中國政府不要走上這條道路。日本首相的這番言論是中日兩國關係緊張的最新跡象。
Jiro Akiba for The Wall Street Journal
安倍晉三在東京接受《華爾街日報》採訪
安倍晉三說，目前外界擔心中國企圖通過武力，而不是通過法律法規來改變現狀。
安倍晉三還表示，亞洲地區國家都擔心中國正在加強軍備。
他說，不單是日本，很多國家都對中國不透明的軍事支出的擴張感到憂慮。
但安倍晉三也強調，中國是日本最大貿易夥伴，與中國的關係是日本最重要的事之一。
他將中日關係稱為互利互惠的戰略關係，並強調，他對與中國領導人展開會談持開放態度，並敦促中國政府採取同樣態度。
中國外交部沒有立即回覆記者的置評請求。
Gerard Baker / George Nishiyama
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