Japan's current "pacifist constitution" is the fruit of the international community's war against Fascism, which represents the desire of the people across the world for peace and to prevent Japan from rebuilding its military for fear that it would start another devastating war. In this sense, Japans' current constitution is a sort of guarantee for peace and stability in Asia-Pacific.
If the United States supports Japan to amend its constitution and become a military power, it risks being dealt another deadly blow by a belligerent Japan. The US experience this time might not be different from what it was during World War II.
The Abe government divides its policy toward China into two directions. On one hand, it cites the "China threat" theory to develop militarily. On the other, since China is an important trade partner of Japan, it realizes the need to strengthen economic ties with China, especially because it is still battling recession.
But China does not split politics from economics when it comes to Japan. China sincerely hopes to deepen and upgrade economic cooperation with Japan, but it cannot sacrifice its sovereignty for economic gains.
China's top political leader Xi Jinping's recent emphasis on adherence to the "Peaceful Development Road", should be interpreted by Japan as a sign of China according priority to dialogue and diplomacy to resolve disputes with its neighbors. However, Japan should not forget that the Chinese leadership has also emphasized that China's core national interests are not tradable.
China looks forward to seeing Japan take concrete actions to defuse the tensions over the Diaoyu Islands dispute. Only when Japan starts to match its words with actions can China make a conciliatory move. But if Japan only uses rhetoric to repair Sino-Japanese ties, nothing much will come out of it.
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