China isn’t getting the Japan it wants

This article was first published by Pacific Forum and is republished with kind permission. Read the original here.

As Beijing looked on angrily, the US and Japanese foreign and defense ministers met in Tokyo during the last week of July to announce they will increase bilateral security cooperation.

The US government said it will upgrade its military command post in Japan to a joint force headquarters that will cooperate closely with the Japanese armed forces’ new Joint Operations Command, improving interoperability between the two allies’ militaries. A joint statement sharply criticized China over a broad range of policies.

In response, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “We call on the US and Japan to immediately stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, stop creating confrontation, [and] stop triggering a new Cold War.”

This is yet another milestone marking the long-running failure of the PRC to domesticate its principal Asian rival. In profound ways, China isn’t getting the Japan it wants, largely because of Beijing’s own counterproductive behavior.

What does the Chinese government want from Japan?

• First, Beijing wants Tokyo, along with all other governments, to refrain from criticizing China or its policies.
• Second, the PRC wants the international community to consider Japan perpetually unworthy of regional leadership because of Japan’s sins during the 20^th century.
• Third, Beijing wants Tokyo to acquiesce to all Chinese claims of ownership of disputed territory — not only cases in which Japan is a rival claimant, but also the South China Sea and Taiwan.
• Fourth, the Chinese government wants a Japan that is militarily weak and neither allied nor aligned with the United States,