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China says Japan defense paper undermines ties

Posted on: Tuesday, 2 August 2005, 22:56 CDT

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has dismissed a Japanese defense report urging vigilance against its military modernization, saying the "irresponsible" move would lead to suspicions and antagonism and undermine bilateral ties.

Japan's annual defense white paper, released on Tuesday, said China's military modernization, including apparent plans for a deep-water navy, needed to be monitored closely to determine whether it exceeds requirements for self-defense.

"There is no factual basis and it is extremely irresponsible of an official Japanese document to publicly play up the so-called 'Chinese threat'," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement seen on the ministry Web site on Wednesday.

"This is not conducive to the two countries establishing mutual trust regarding security and will only mislead the public, lead to mutual suspicions and antagonism, and undermine Sino-Japanese relations," the spokesman said.

"We hope the Japanese side will take the long-term development of Sino-Japanese ties as a starting point in consideration and do more that is conducive to improving mutual trust and friendly feelings instead of the opposite," he added.

The ministry may have been restrained, but an editorial in the official China Daily was unceremoniously outspoken.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has proposed revising the country's postwar, pacifist constitution to allow Japan to possess a military not only to defend itself but to play a greater role in global security.

"It is not difficult to see the bare fangs and brandished claws in the proposal," the editorial said. "The LDP's proposed revision of the constitution demonstrates Japan's new mindset -- encouraging military expansion. This is nerve wracking."

"MILITARY BULLY"

The editorial accused Japan of portraying itself as "the only victim of atomic arms," adding: "The depth of Japan's remorse (for World War II atrocities) is in doubt."

"Without a guilty conscience, Japan is attempting to turn itself into a regional military bully," the editorial concluded.

The Japanese white paper, which appears at a time of strained Sino-Japanese ties, echoes a Defense Department report in July that said China's fast-modernizing military could pose a long-term threat to the region.

Defense Minister Yoshinori Ohno said, however, that Japan did not see China as a military threat.

The report also stressed Japan's concern about China's passage in March of an anti-secession law authorizing the use of "non-peaceful means" to re-unify with Taiwan. Beijing claims sovereignty over the self-ruled democratic island which split with the mainland when the Communists won power there in 1949.

The Taiwan issue is one of many sore points in the Sino-Japanese relationship. Others include Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to a war shrine in Tokyo and Chinese accusations that Japan is whitewashing its wartime past.

The China Daily said that recently uncovered archives had shed new light on chilling human experiments carried out by Japan's notorious Unit 731 in China during World War II.

At a news conference in the northeastern city of Harbin, Chinese researchers presented Japanese files recording details of 1,463 people secretly transported to Unit 731.

"This is direct evidence proving Unit 731 conducted biological experiments on live human beings," Jin Chengmin, an expert on Unit 731 at Harbin Academy of Social Sciences, said.

Unit 731 conducted experiments on humans to develop biological weapons such as bubonic plague, typhoid and cholera. (Additional reporting by Vivi Lin)

Source: REUTERS

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