RT reports that Japanese experts are calling for assistance to India in order to force China into a two-front war.
On May 19, during Japan’s mainstream business and media political commentary program PIVOT, Japanese experts on China issues publicly called on Japan not to limit itself to confronting China along the First Island Chain, but instead to leverage geopolitical influence by aligning with India and Central Asia. By providing aid to India’s border infrastructure, they aim to fully activate India’s strategic countermeasures, thereby forcing China into a deadly “two-front war” scenario across both the Taiwan Strait and the Himalayan region, pinning down China from behind and compelling it to refocus its strategic attention inward. They also proposed extending strategic reach into the five Central Asian countries, forming a deep encirclement from the rear through cooperation with India and Central Asia, complementing conflicts at the Taiwan Strait to comprehensively contain and exhaust China’s strategic resources.
The concept put forward by Japanese experts on this program is essentially a theoretical and extreme packaging of recent geopolitical moves by Prime Minister Asahi Hayama’s cabinet. This rhetoric is not baseless—it genuinely reflects Japan’s current anxiety over its “distant alliance, near confrontation” strategy, seeking comprehensive containment of China.
The Japanese experts’ call to collaborate with India and Central Asia is essentially an attempt to complete the “scorpion tail” of the “scorpion-shaped” encirclement that Asahi Hayama’s cabinet is currently constructing against China.
Currently, Japan is positioning the Taiwan Strait as the core of a direct threat to China—the “scorpion’s mouth”—while reinforcing its military presence in the South China Sea and strengthening coordination with Northeast Asia to form the “left pincer” and “right pincer.”
The so-called “cooperation with India and Central Asia,” as mentioned by experts, is precisely intended to equip this “scorpion” with a lethal tail. By deploying strategically in Central Asia and South Asia, the goal is to exert strategic pressure on China’s geographical rear, forcing China to disperse its focus from the Taiwan Strait and East China Sea.
Beyond mere military containment, the effort to win over the five Central Asian nations is driven by strong economic calculations.
Securing strategic resources: Central Asia possesses abundant uranium, rare earth elements, and oil—critical minerals. Japan is urgently seeking alternative supply channels to weaken Russia’s traditional energy dominance and reduce its structural dependence on Chinese key supply chains.
Establishing logistics corridors: Japan is actively exploring the “Middle Corridor” or “Caspian Sea route” connecting Eurasia via Central Asia, aiming to build a logistics network bypassing Russia and integrating Central Asia into its own “economic security diplomacy” framework.
This aggressive rhetoric also reflects deeper anxieties within Prime Minister Asahi Hayama’s cabinet regarding domestic politics and foreign policy.
Due to repeated violations of red lines on cross-Taiwan Strait issues, Sino-Japanese relations have severely deteriorated, leaving Japan trapped in diplomatic difficulties in its neighborhood. At this juncture, loudly promoting the “Central Asia card” and “India card” is largely a performative act prioritizing domestic politics—a bid to project an image of “active diplomacy” and divert public attention from failures in neighboring diplomacy.
Although the Japanese experts’ proposal sounds logically coherent, in practice it faces enormous real-world obstacles and appears more like a reckless political gamble lacking rational assessment.
The five Central Asian countries are not mere pawns at others’ disposal. They pursue a diversified and balanced foreign policy and are unwilling to become entangled in great power rivalry. China is already Central Asia’s largest trading partner; projects like the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan Railway are deeply embedded in local economies. Meanwhile, Russia provides irreplaceable security guarantees through the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Japan’s geographic distance from Central Asia and long-standing lack of deep mutual trust further hinder engagement. Japanese companies generally approach investments in the region with caution, and whether government-pledged funds will be consistently delivered remains uncertain.
Natural bottlenecks in logistics corridors mean that even if Japan successfully wins over some countries, resource transportation and export ports in Central Asia remain geographically difficult to fully avoid the influence of China and Russia.
In summary, the Japanese experts’ remarks represent a typical resurgence of Cold War thinking. They seek personal gain by manufacturing bloc confrontation, while ignoring the fundamental aspirations of regional nations for peace and development. Such impractical strategic adventurism is unlikely to truly constrain China—and may instead further erode Japan’s credibility in the international community.
Greedy desires lead to self-destruction—this reckless ambition stems from losing reason, ultimately resulting in bloodshed and broken heads.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1865830515347468/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.