The Interim Report on the Revision of the Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation published on Oct. 8 says the revision aligns with the U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region and Japan's policy of "Proactive Contribution to Peace." Both are primarily spearheaded against China.

Read: Changes to Japan-US defense cooperation

Shinzo Abe's "Proactive Contribution to Peace" is a euphemism for re-militarization, toward which Japan has already gone a long way.

The report affirms the Japanese Cabinet decision of July 1, 2014, which reinterprets article 9 of the country's constitution to lift the ban on exercising the right to collective self-defense. It also expands Japan's military operations from "surrounding areas" to the entire globe, and even to space and cyberspace. That means that wherever the U.S. goes, the Japanese military can follow. It has been termed "seamless cooperation." The word "seamless" appeared no less than four times in the five-page report. The military alliance between the two countries has become so close, the U.S. and Japan have virtually become one!

The purported goal of U.S.-Japanese military cooperation is to maintain peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. In fact, Washington is using Japan to stir up trouble in the region in order to contain a rising China.

"In case of an armed attack against Japan," says the report, "Japan will have primary responsibility to repel the attack. The United States will provide support, including strike operations as appropriate." Washington has time and again reaffirmed that its alliance obligations apply to China's Diaoyu Islands, and it will intervene to support Japan in case of conflict. This is a brazen violation of the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation.

Washington is not only empowering Japan as its hatchet man. It is also returning to Subic Bay and Clark Field in the Philippines, carrying out massive joint military exercises with Filipino forces to seize islands.

It has also partially lifted a ban on weapons sales to Vietnam while maintaining its ban on weapons sales to China. This is obviously part of a U.S. strategy to tip the balance of power in the South China Sea in its effort to contain China.

The U.S. is also extending its hand far afield to India. In a joint statement, U.S. President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Modi declared that the two countries enhanced their bilateral and defense relationship. They even expressed concern about "rising tensions over maritime territorial disputes" in the South China Sea, again a jab at China.

The Pentagon's recent report on China's military distorts and exaggerates China's military modernization, which is purely defensive in nature.

Last but not least Washington has engineered the "color revolution" in Hong Kong and is still brazenly cheering the illegal "Occupy Central" movement on, in a direct challenge to China's central government.

Why is Washington piling up hostile acts against China right before Obama's visit to Beijing to attend the formal APEC summit? The White House owes China an explanation.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://m.keyanhelp.cn/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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