Commentary: Japan's sinister collusion with NATO

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- This year's NATO summit is different from the previous versions as several non-NATO leaders were invited, and one of them is Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

It is well known that NATO summits do not involve Japan. Yet Kishida accepted the invitation and went. Being the first Japanese prime minister to do so, he has apparently ignored the feelings of neighboring countries, and betrayed Japan's post-war pacifism.

Kishida's presence at the meeting can be taken as an epitome of Japan's collusion with the United States and NATO. For long, Japan has been acting as a pawn for Washington to boost its supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tokyo has been actively cooperating with the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, taking an active part in the U.S.-led Quad mechanism, and dancing to the U.S. tune on China.

In fact, it was not new for Japan to seek to establish contact with NATO. In the early 2000s, then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited NATO's Brussels headquarters. Now, Japan has more frequent interactions with NATO, such as staging joint military training, and has been trying to match NATO standards in military spending.

Japan is an Asia-pacific country that is still haunted by militarism, while the U.S.-led NATO is the world's largest military organization. Their collusion will only create confrontation and division in Asia Pacific.

As is known to all, Washington regards China as its biggest competitor and hardly hides its intention to contain China and seek everlasting hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.

As Washington's tool to pursue global predominance, NATO has stretched its tentacles to Asia Pacific with a focus on China. In recent years, NATO members continuously sent jets and warships for military exercises in China's surrounding waters, which heightened tensions in the region.

Back in Japan, some politicians attempt to rebuild the country as an "Asian military and political power" by leveraging the strength of the United States and NATO.

Thus Japan rushes to cooperate with NATO to stir up troubles in the Asia Pacific. In fact, Kishida was not content with just showing up at the summit, he took the initiative there to call on NATO to shift its attention to the Asia-Pacific region and put forward proposals to fundamentally strengthen Japan's defense capabilities, among other things, according to Japanese media reports.

However, Japan, by acting as the "vanguard" of NATO out of its own ambition, will seriously threaten regional security and stability. And it will eventually pay the price.

"Most of the ASEAN countries and islands of the Pacific are concerned about NATO's strategic push and are resisting the pressure to take sides as NATO/U.S. want," Anuradha Chenoy, an adjunct professor at India's Jindal Global University, said in an article published in May on the website of The Citizen.

"Their overall view is that NATO's hyper activity in the region ... will lead to tensions and 'not benefit anyone' in the region," the expert added.

In history, many Asian countries experienced colonial rule or oppression and slavery by major powers. People in this region cherish the hard-won environment for peaceful development, crave better lives, and firmly oppose words or deeds that might invite military blocs or provoke confrontation. What Japan and the United States are doing clearly run counter to the trend of the times.

Japan is playing with fire by "inviting the wolf into the house." The country should draw lessons from history, especially in the military and security fields, and contribute to regional peace and stability, not sabotaging them.