Japan risks alienating itself from rest of Asia

During Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's visit to Japan last week, the two countries agreed to sharply boost their defense ties, allowing Japanese troops greater access to Philippine territory.

Japan has been careful to avoid mentioning China in such security pacts. But all stakeholders know that it is China that Tokyo has put in its crosshair.

It is believed that the security pact with Manila represents a step for Tokyo to broaden military cooperation with Southeast Asian nations.

In doing so, Japan is seeking to develop its military in the region under the framework of the United States' "Indo-Pacific" strategy. As such, it is the US that is setting the stage for Japan to play on.

The US has long wanted Japan to provide more funds, manpower and resources to ease its own burden. The ambition Japan has demonstrated recently is a direct result of the US' endorsement.

It is under these circumstances that the Fumio Kishida government, despite strong pressure and dissatisfaction at home and abroad, insists on raising the military budget and expanding Japan's armed forces, even though the Japanese economy is weak and his approval rating has fallen below 30 percent for a long time.

Tokyo should realize that the real interests of Asian countries do not lie in siding with the US, but in carefully balancing their relations with the US and China to maximize their own interests, and a war in the region would not comply with their interests.

If Japan goes too far in pressing them to counter China, spurred by its own ambition of taking advantage of the US' China containment strategy to seek re-rise of its militarism, it will finally pay for its own misjudgment of the situation. Its enthusiasm in doing the US' bidding will not make it true friends around the world but instead expose to regional countries how desperate Tokyo is becoming to hoodwink them to jump onto the US' China-containment bandwagon through a Japanese springboard.