Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ‘sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind’.

Before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Brazil, the Japanese delegation intimated via Japanese media that Japan and Brazil would deliver a joint declaration on concepts such a ‘rule of law’, highlighting the peaceful approach to solving the South China Sea disputes. Some media hinted that part of the declaration specifically targeted China.

According to Liu Jianming, professor of Tsinghua University, some parts of the Japanese media are controlled by Abe’s government, and regularly provide misleading coverage of events involving China.

Their intention is to remedy the Japanese government’s failures in diplomacy. However, this type of coverage only succeeds in making the Japanese government more offensive to the outside world.

Once issued, the declaration was found to make no reference to China. It mentioned neither China nor the South China Sea disputes. The whole scenario of Japan joining Brazil to ‘counterbalance’ China was little more than a farce. Even so, Japan still tried to claim that Brazil and Japan were trying to ‘counterbalance’ China by putting forward the concept of ‘rule of law’ and the resolution of disputes according to international law.

China disdains such tactics from Japanese media. China is a responsible defender of international law and conforms to international law - China has every reason to refer to itself as a country ruled by law. Resolving problems in peaceful way is entirely consistent with China’s principles, and a standpoint pursued consistently by China.

Since his re-election as Prime Minister, Abe has spared no effort to bring other countries together to counterbalance China. His efforts to found these anti-China Alliances are proving fruitless.

He will never succeed in setting up any kind of 'anti-China encirclement'. As China rises, the world finds itself more closely bound to China and more estranged from Japan. Abe should note that the antagonistic camps of the cold war period no longer exist. Abe's obsession with the ‘cold-war mentality' will end in failure.

The article is edited and translated from《构筑反华联盟 安倍妄想》, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition, author: Hua Yisheng