The latest release of a set of Japan's detailed emergency military programs against China on the issue of the Diaoyu Islands has put Tokyo's sincerity in doubt, having said on many occasions how much it values peace and friendship with China and having vowed not to go to war with its neighbors again. 

Japan's Defense Agency has mapped out a plan on how to repel possible foreign invasions against a group of its remote southern islands, which include China's Diaoyu Islands, the country's Kyodo News Agency said on Saturday.

The plan, which was first released in November, calls for steps such as the dispatch of navy destroyers, submarines and fighter planes as well as the deployment of a 55,000-personnel special and rapid response unit when there are signs that foreign troops are launching attacks against the remote islands off Kyushu and Okinawa.

The ruse for the arrangement is that the Self-Defense Forces do not have troops stationed on most of the southern islands, which turns out to be a vacuum in terms of security.

According to the military program, Japan's patrol planes of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDFs) and the airborne warning and control system of the Air Self-Defense Forces would remain on active service around the remote islands to collect information. Its fighters, submarines and destroyers dispatched from the Kyushu and Chugoku regions would be divided into two groups to prevent aggressors from landing on the islands or blocking their supply routes.

The Ground Self-Defense Forces would mobilize its Western Army Infantry Regiment and members of the newly established central rapid response forces to recapture invaded islands if the MSDFs fail to prevent foreign aggressors from landing.

Every country has the right to remain on high alert against possible foreign intrusions and brace itself for safeguarding its country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

This time, Japan has put a piece of land, which has belonged to China for centuries, in its own basket.

The Diaoyu Islands, called the Senkakus in Japan, has been part of China's territory since ancient times.

Thus, when drawing up concrete steps to keep these islands from being invaded, what the Japanese military department is trying to do is how it is preparing itself to prevent foreign troops from occupying foreign territories.

Also, through describing a terrible picture of "its territory" being invaded, the Japanese military has made an obvious attempt to upgrade its already sophisticated arms stockpile and expand its military self-defense scope beyond what its postwar Pacific Constitution stipulates.

When it describes how it will fortify the Diaoyu Islands and how it will prevent and defeat possible aggression by Chinese troops into the islands, Tokyo not only shows its aggression to the Chinese people, but also defies its past claims that settlement of any disputes will take place with its neighbor through consultation.

This is only one episode of a series of similar behavior by the Japanese.

Late last year, the Japanese Defense Agency drew up three scenarios of Chinese invasions of Japan.

The presumptions have turned Japan's claim that it values friendship with China pale.

Tokyo's actions involving neighbors have clearly indicated what kind of policy it really holds towards them.

(China Daily January 18, 2005)