China: Japan’s Imaginary Enemy · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Territoriality over the waters between China and Japan continues to limp along after yet another Chinese fish boat captain, Zhang Tianxiong, was arrested this past weekend for drifting into Japanese waters and then leading that country's coastguard on a four-hour high speed sea pursuit. It ended when the Chinese boat was rammed and its crew of ten were taken in for questioning.
By most accounts, Zhang was fishing well inside an area where he would have known he ought not be, but the chance to make the incident a nationalistic showdown was too good for some to pass up. Or, as military affairs commentator and magazine editor Wu Ge wrote [zh] on his blog:
这类事件，往往不可避免地牵动两国关系，外交部门不得不从较高层面加以关注、协调和化解，但是一个大问题来了。中国不少公众总是自动将所有这类事件（有时甚至包括所有不友好，挑衅性甚至挑逗性言论）统统上升到国家荣辱，大国地位，对外强硬，甚至两国要不要一战的层面。
Television news screenshot
And yet Zhang's arrest, sanctioned as it might be by international law, also happened to coincide with Chinese media reports, which cite Japanese media as saying that a large joint Japan-US naval drill will take place off Kyushu this week. Not only will this reportedly be the first of several large defensive drills to come, but Japanese media are now widely said to have alleged that China will serve as the imaginary enemy.
On that, Phoenix blogger Jin Zishan writes [zh]:
日本媒体大肆渲染把中国作为“假想敌”，不知道是不是代表了日本官方的态度。是日本官方把不方便说的话借由媒体说出，还是日本媒体以说出这样的话起到推波助澜的作用，可以仁者见仁智者见智地去分析玩味。在官方的外交中，在军事的演习中，一般的惯例是不轻易将“假想敌”公然说出口。
把中国作为“假想敌”本就没有道理，何况是“公然”地。中国与日本最前沿的博弈是在钓鱼岛海域与东海海域，但是中国仍然一直保持了相当的克制，并没有作出太多的咄咄逼人的姿态。以此实况，中国怎么会公然上了日本媒体的“假想敌”榜单。
Japanese media are playing up China as “the imaginary enemy”, but we don't know if that represents Japan's official stance. It could be that Japan is using its media to say what it's not convenient for the state to say itself, or it could be that Japanese media are just trying to throw fuel on the flames. People will see what they want to see. At the official diplomatic level, though, and when it comes to military drills, the convention is that the term “imaginary enemy” just doesn't get used so overtly so easily.
It makes no sense to have China be the “imaginary enemy”, and especially not so “overtly”. The forward game between China and Japan is played out in areas surrounding the Diaoyu islands and the East China Sea, yet China has always managed to maintain a certain amount of restraint, and seldom takes an aggressive stance. Considering this, how is it that China has ended up listed as “the imaginary enemy” in Japanese media?
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公然以中国为“假想敌”，无非是在制造新一轮的所谓的“中国威胁论”。给中国扣上莫须有的“威胁”的帽子，既是想借机利用国内不健康的政治生态，又在国际上捏造出中国的坏形象，试图以此达到有利于自己，让自己获利，使日本在与中国的竞争中占据上风的目的。同时也可以掩盖自己对外露出的“`”。
树起一个中国“假想敌”，能够为日本的扩军备战、对外扩张营造舆论的氛围，进而逐步付诸行动。日本一直在实际加强自卫队的武装，日本有着极强的核能力、核积累，日本自卫队不断迈出向海外派军的步伐，是众所周知的事。11月3日是日本现行宪法（“和平宪法”）公布65周年纪念日，日本右翼媒体借机大肆鼓吹修改和平宪法，并将“自卫队”改变为“军队”。日本计划年内给39座离岛“命名”，搞不符合国际法的扩大日本“专属经济区”的“圈海”运动。日本还在有意将势力伸展到南海周边，对外扩张的倾向似乎越来越明显。
Setting China up to be the “imaginary enemy” allows Japan to build up its military and war capabilities, allowing it to shape policy in the region, and gradually lead to action. It's no secret that Japan, which possesses great nuclear strength and a nuclear stockpile, has always sought to strengthen its defense capabilities, and takes every opportunity to steadily extend those beyond its borders.
This November 3 was the 65th anniversary of Japan's ratification of its post-war “Peace constitution”, which the country's right wing took as an opportunity to demand that the “Peace constitution” be amended, that its “Self-Defense Forces” be renamed as its “Army”. Japan also plans to “give names” to 39 offshore islands before the end of this year, and, in violation of international law, even expand its offshore exclusive economic zone.
It's becoming increasingly evident that Japan intends to expand and extend its reach to the edge of the South China Sea.