There is the story of a man from Chu who carved a boat to look for his sword, and now there are Japanese people searching for "enemies" in the void.

On the 14th, the Japanese media, "Yomiuri Shimbun," reported this news, stating that in June this year, when China's Liaoning and Shandong aircraft carriers formed a dual-carrier formation to conduct drills in the Western Pacific, the Japan Self-Defense Forces had carried out a "simulated attack exercise" against China's aircraft carrier.

The report said that this exercise by the Self-Defense Forces "clearly showed that Japan has been prepared to deal with the Chinese Navy."

However, what is extremely frustrating is that, according to the original text of the Japanese media, this "simulated attack exercise against China's aircraft carrier" by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces is a complete repetition of the story of "carving a boat to look for a sword":

Is this exercise not aimed at the empty sea?

First, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces did not start the exercise only when our military's Liaoning carrier formation crossed the Ryukyu Islands, but rather waited until the Liaoning carrier formation had left the relevant area and entered the Western Pacific before starting the "simulated strike on China's aircraft carrier drill." However, the so-called "exercise subject" was merely that Japanese aircraft took off to confirm the launch procedure of anti-ship missiles. This entire exercise can be described as outputting to the air.

Second, regarding the location of the Self-Defense Forces' exercise, although the Japanese side strongly insists it is in the "northern waters of the Diaoyu Islands," in reality, it is just near the Ryukyu Islands.

Finally, since the Japanese media claims that the target of this exercise by the Self-Defense Forces is "simulating an attack on China's aircraft carrier," the Air Self-Defense Force should at least have brought out its expensive "Lightning" fighter jets (F-35) to "show off," right?

If the Self-Defense Forces had just taken out the F-35 for a display, we would consider it as making an effort.

But that's not the case. According to the Japanese media, during this "simulated attack on China's aircraft carrier" exercise, the Air Self-Defense Force did not deploy any stealth fighters, but instead sent several F-2 fighter jets known as the "Heisei Zero Fighter."

Well, although this aircraft was originally designed to include "acting as the main force for anti-ship support," each aircraft can carry four anti-ship missiles, but this Japanese aircraft is essentially a larger version of the American "Falcon" fighter jet (F-16), and it does not have stealth capabilities. Its ability to penetrate the multi-layered air defense system of an aircraft carrier group is very limited.

One of the "highlights" of this aircraft is that its unit price is close to that of a fifth-generation fighter jet, which is also why the Japanese Self-Defense Forces have criticized it as "the worst value-for-money fighter jet." Just recently, an F-2 fighter jet crashed during training.

Japan is like this now, having the desire but lacking the courage to confront China.

The Japanese media also does not understand what use the F-2, which has no stealth capability, could be for anti-aircraft carrier operations. But a Japanese government official explained it this way: the Japanese side deliberately did not choose the latest fighter jet for the exercise, in order to "clearly convey the signal that Japan is taking countermeasures against China."

This statement translates to: the Japanese exercise is simply a show for China—this kind of interpretation of "carving a boat to look for a sword" is so fresh, it can only be said that the Japanese are happy with it.

In summary, according to the Japanese media's promotion, this so-called "simulated strike on China's aircraft carrier drill" by the Self-Defense Forces is very in line with our stereotypical perception of Japanese bureaucracy and formalism.

Of course, what is more worth our attention is another situation.

Recently, Japan has frequently hyped up military news involving China, clearly to offset China's commemoration of the victory in World War II.

Many people should have noticed that Japan has recently been conducting frequent military hype against China in the media. For example, in late July, Japanese media exposed the "US-Japan war game where Japan asked the US to implement nuclear deterrence against China," and earlier, Japanese media revealed that the "Ryūgetsu" ship intruded into China's territorial waters last year and was warned by the PLA with gunfire.

Combined with China's upcoming commemoration of the victory in World War II, it may be considered that these recent series of military news hypes by Japan involving China are a kind of "stress reaction" to sensitive time points.

That is, while the day of Japan's surrender in World War II and the end of the war is approaching, Japan is using military news hypes about China to incite confrontation, especially to spread the narrative of "modern Japan is facing a security crisis," shifting public focus from being the "historical aggressor" to the "real victim," in order to counter the accountability for Japan's aggression history by Asian countries, especially China.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7538283318895329834/

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