A two-week joint military exercise was planned by Japan's Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and the U.S. and Australian air forces in Guam on Saturday. This sabre-rattling strikes a cacophony in the Asia-Pacific region where countries coexist peacefully and try to form successful partnership to tide over a time of uncertainty and challenge.

The three participants have so far given no word about the motive of this drill, which is JASDF's first joint military maneuver with the U.S. and Australian forces.

But according to a report by Kyodo News, the move is believed to be aimed at keeping in check the rise of the Chinese military in the Asia-Pacific region.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration unveiled a revised national defense strategy, which vows to sustain a global presence while strengthening U.S. focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

In a story The New York Times attributed this shift in strategic focus to three factors: the winding down of a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, a fiscal crisis demanding deep cuts in Pentagon budget and the alleged rising threat from China.

In another move, Washington and Canberra agreed last November to enhance their military alliance, which will see the deployment of a full force of around 2,500 U.S. Marines in Australia in the years to come.

During his visit to Canberra, U.S. President Barack Obama was quoted as saying, "Let there be no doubt, in the Asia-Pacific in the 21st century, the United States is all in."

It seems that Washington cannot wait to get involved in Asia- Pacific regional affairs when it has yet entirely freed itself from two lingering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But countries in the region will expect a genuine partner who plays a constructive role in enhancing peace, stability and prosperity in the region rather than a "leader" who insists on having its own way by habitually flexing its military muscles.

Just as Chinese President Hu Jintao said when he met his U.S. counterpart Obama in Hawaii last November, China respects the legitimate interests of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region and welcomes it to play a constructive role there.

Likewise, we will expect the United States to do the same to China.

It is true there are territorial disputes and other differences among some countries in the region, but these would be settled through bilateral peaceful consultation on an equal footing within the framework of international law.

Besides, U.S. military alliances with Japan and others in the Asia-Pacific region are mostly leftovers from the Cold War era. It raises many questions whether it is appropriate to boost and expand such military alliances in today's world and whether such a move is in the common interest of the countries in the region.

Some people tend to have misgivings about China's growing military strength and ask for greater transparency in its strategic intent. In fact, the Chinese government has all along made it clear that China is committed to pursuing a defense policy which is defensive in nature.

With vast territorial land and sea and a long borderline and coastline, China faces multiple traditional and nontraditional security challenges. Therefore, it is necessary and justified for China to modernize and enhance its defense capability to uphold the country's security and protect its peaceful development.

Compared with the military budgets of other world powers, China 's defense expenditures are moderate and in keeping with the need to safeguard its security.

Clinging to Cold War mentality and piecing together military alliances on the lame pretext of China's threat will get countries in the region nowhere, especially when they are striving for economic recovery threatened by the European debt crisis and face the risk of another global economic downturn.

In a written interview with Xinhua, Professor Akio Takahara with the Graduate School of Law and Politics at the University of Tokyo had this to say, "In order to avoid any misunderstanding on both sides, Japan and China, together with the United States, must meet and discuss how the three nations strategically can coexist in comfort."

Maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region is in the common interest of all the countries in the region. And there are many ways to that end. The unprecedented joint military drill, however, is positively not one of them.

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