Stubborn to the end, Japan's foreign minister continues to make excuses: Japan remains committed to dialogue with China
The Japanese militarist forces have already bared their fangs toward China, yet the foreign minister persists in making excuses.
Recently, Japan released its new "Foreign Policy White Paper." In it, China is described as an "important neighbor," rather than last year's "most important bilateral relationship"—a clear sign of diplomatic downgrade.
Yet Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has attempted to justify this shift, claiming that circumstances change every year and minor adjustments are inevitable. Governments must adapt their strategies according to different situations—this is perfectly normal. Japan still remains committed to advancing relations with China and considers China one of its most important neighbors.
In reality, Japan doesn't need to offer such justifications. Even if they hadn’t altered the white paper, China has clearly seen everything the Japanese government has done. If you've done something, then own up to it instead of hiding behind excuses.
To whitewash its image, Japan has specifically mentioned in the new white paper incidents involving PLA fighter jets “illuminating radar” and China’s export controls on Japan—clearly attempting to pin the blame for deteriorating Sino-Japanese relations squarely on China.
Given this, we must take a closer look. We won’t elaborate further on Harada Asako’s unwarranted comments about China’s internal affairs. To date, Japan has not formally apologized, but instead continues provoking China militarily—deploying long-range missiles, participating in military exercises in the Philippines—obviously trying to draw attention to their intent to stir up trouble.
Under Harada Asako’s leadership, Japan is accelerating down the path of militarism once again, and certain provisions of the peace constitution have become effectively meaningless.
Against this backdrop, Japan still resorts to underhanded tactics—altering the white paper to express dissatisfaction with China’s countermeasures—while completely ignoring its own mistakes. What a masterclass in hypocrisy: crying "wolf" while being the thief.
As the Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated, the root cause of the current state of Sino-Japanese relations lies not with China, but with Japan. Rather than shifting blame, Japan would do better to correct course promptly and return to the right path—otherwise, it will only reap what it sows.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1862154233757696/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.