[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

In China's dispute with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands, the United States has unequivocally chosen to back Japan: the same country that attacked Pearl Harbor and killed at least ninety thousand Americans.

This was made doubly clear by America's top general Martin E. Dempsey while on a state visit to China. In his talks with his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Fan Changlong, and during his address at China's Defense University, Dempsey said: "We do have certain treaty obligations with Japan that we would honor."

This kind of rhetoric is not new. What's different is that rather than coming from Washington – where this kind of language is commonplace – it was made in China by America's top military official, giving the language additional weight and meaning.

Encouraged by the U.S., Shinzo Abe is brazenly escalating Japan's belligerent behavior. He defended 168 Japanese officials' visit to Ysukuni Shrine to worship Japan's "heroic war dead" (Class A War Criminals) as a matter of course, and said that Japan will never bow to foreign pressure! The Washington Post calls this "Japan's no-apology diplomacy." As I said earlier, Abe and the Japanese Right have never accepted the world order established by the allies' victory during the anti-fascist war. He again questioned the nature of Japan's war of aggression.

It is reported that the United States gave tacit consent to the Japanese officials' Yasukuni Shrine visit. In retrospect, it was the United States that preserved the Yasukuni Shrine in the first place. It was Gen. MacArthur who freed many Japanese war criminals held at Sugamo Prison, including Nobusuke Kishi, Abe's maternal grandfather.

Abe also declared that Japan will carry out round-the-clock surveillance of the Diaoyu Islands, and will even consider sending public servants to manage the island's real estate. How far is he willing to go?

He is also emboldened by America's support, as Japan is scheduled to send one thousand troops from its land, sea and air self-defense forces to the United States in June to hold a series of joint military exercises with the U.S. military, with the stated purpose of island warfare training. Abe has said that there is no designated enemy, but who is he kidding!

The Obama administration is using Japan to aid its rebalance strategy of focusing on Asia and the Pacific. And Japan is using U.S. support to eventually revise its peaceful constitution to become a "normal country" with the right to collective self-defense and regular armed forces.

Washington is pursuing a dual policy towards China. When it needs China's help in developing the economy and denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, it shows a benign human face. When it wants to expand its presence in the western Pacific, it shows a more devious side. Let's call a spade a spade. Even though the United States is constrained by sequestration, it is still an empire, an evil empire.

Washington is forgetting John Quincy Adam's warning against going out, seeking "monsters to destroy," and his advice to abstain from interference in the concerns of others.

Does the United States underestimate China's determination to defend its territorial integrity? China has a slew of East Wind ICBMs and Long Sword cruise missiles, and its motto is: "We will not attack unless we are attacked; if we are attacked, we will certainly counterattack."

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

Related

• Abe beautifying aggression
• Abe offering at controversial shrine irks neighbors

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)