Tokyo told to respect neighbors

Beijing protests during top-level talks as plan to expand role of forces clears latest hurdle

Shotaro Yachi, head of Japan's National Security Council. CHINA DAILY

Beijing made a strong protest about Tokyo's legislative campaign to lift restrictions on Japan's armed forces, describing them as "unprecedented", during a meeting on Thursday.

State Councilor Yang Jiechi made the representations in Beijing while co-hosting the First China-Japan High-Level Political Dialogue with Shotaro Yachi, the head of Japan's National Security Council and a key adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Japan's ruling coalition pushed its contentious package of security bills through the lower house of the Diet, the country's legislature, earlier in the day despite a boycott of the vote by most opposition members.

Yang noted that this year marks the 70th anniversary of victory in both the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the world's anti-fascist war.

At such a moment, Japan should "respect the major security concerns of Asian neighbors and refrain from doing things that do not facilitate regional peace and stability", Yang said.

He said Japan's proposed adjustments to its military and security policies are "not in accordance with the trend of the current era". Japan is inviting questions over whether it plans to break away from the policy of focusing on self-defense, Yang said.

The Seoul-based Yonhap news agency warned that the bills "would allow the conservative Shinzo Abe administration to reinterpret the Constitution and expand the country's military role abroad".

Lyu Yaodong, an expert on Japan's foreign policies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the bills will have a "tremendous impact" as they will make Japan "the biggest variable in the Asia-Pacific region".

Lyu warned that "Japan's military expansion is inevitable", though it claims it simply wishes to protect its allies.