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Sunday, December 12, 2004 at 07:43 JST
BEIJING — China on Saturday criticized Japan for describing Beijing as a military threat and expressed unease about new Japanese defense guidelines that loosen a ban on weapons exports
"We are deeply concerned with the great changes of Japan's military defense strategy and its possible impact," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue was quoted as saying by state media.
China regards Japan as its major rival for status as East Asia's dominant military power and reacts negatively to signs that Tokyo might shed self-imposed postwar limits on military activity.
The guidelines issued Friday ease Japan's decades-old ban on arms exports in order to facilitate a joint missile security program with Washington. But they stress that Tokyo will stick to defense, avoiding offensive military activity abroad.
The report cites threats posed by North Korean missiles and China's military buildup.
Zhang expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with that description.
"This is totally groundless and extremely irresponsible," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted her as saying.
Zhang called on Tokyo to take "prudent actions in military and security issues" in order to maintain regional stability, the China Daily newspaper and other government media reported.
Zhang appealed to Japan to "take its Asian neighbors' concern into full consideration," the reports said. She cited "historical reasons" — a reference to Japan's brutal conquest of China and other Asian nations before and during World War II.
Tensions simmering in bilateral relations stem from such issues as a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands, the two countries' respective natural gas development projects in the East China Sea, and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
China is East Asia's military giant in terms of military spending, ranking third in the world in 2003 at $55.95 billion, and its official defense budget in 2004 registered double-digit growth for the 15th year.
In comparison, Japan's defense expenditures totaled $42.84 billion in 2003, which ranked second in Asia and fifth in the world, according to the latest Military Balance publication.
But Japan benefits from its strong security alliance with the United States, the world's sole superpower that topped the list with overwhelming military spending of $404.92 billion in 2003. (Wire reports)
December 11, 2004 at 08:28 PM in Japan | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home