As US Influence Recedes In Asia Arch-Enemies China And Japan Are Flexing Their Muscles

Show of power … soldiers from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Special Operations Forces. Photograph: Joe Chan/Reuters

China's Military Presence Is Growing. Does A Superpower Collision Loom? -- Simon Tisdall, The Guardian

Who holds the key to the future of East Asia? As US influence recedes, arch-enemies China and Japan are flexing their muscles

Generally speaking, Japanese bureaucrats are not much given to exaggeration. So when a senior government insider in Tokyo, speaking off the record, recently compared the deteriorating security situation in East Asia to Europe in the 1930s amid the rise of fascism, it was time to sit up and take notice.

"Tensions are getting very high in this part of the world," the official said. "The security position is extremely severe. There are huge arms sales from Russia, the US and Europe. China's defence spending has seen double-digit growth each year since 1989. They [Beijing] are not a responsible partner. US influence in the region is receding."

Bad blood between Japan and China runs deep and, in the modern era, dates from the 1931 invasion of Manchuria. Following its defeat in 1945 and its adoption of a pacifist constitution, Japan became wholly dependent on the US for its defence. Some analysts claim it has long been in Tokyo's interests to play up the China "threat". But objectively speaking, the threat is real, and it becomes tangibly more worrying by the day.

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Update: 2013: In Asia, growing rivalry between Japan and China -- Peter Ford, Christian Science Monitor

My Comment: A good summary on growing concerns with China's rise in East Asia.