TOKYO, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit for the second straight year shows a tendency to cooperate with the military bloc in meddling in the regional affairs of the Asia-Pacific, a Japanese scholar has said.
Kazuteru Saionji, a visiting professor at Higashi Nippon International University, told Xinhua in a recent interview that Japan's move would complicate the Asia-Pacific security situation, escalate military tensions and undermine regional stability.
A Japanese prime minister had never attended a NATO summit in the past, and Kishida went again after breaking that tradition last year, said Saionji, noting that the Kishida government follows the lead of the United States in foreign and military policies and is "leading wolves into the house."
The Japanese government is actively cooperating with the United States in engaging in military containment, preventing China's development and maintaining U.S. hegemony, he added.
Saionji said that the United States is mobilizing strategic resources to contain China in the Asia-Pacific, causing regional tensions, while most of the Asia-Pacific countries do not want to become its pawns or pick sides.
However, Japan is eager to join the United States in containing China, which is extremely foolish, Saionji said.
NATO is a product of the special geopolitics of Europe during the Cold War, and has nothing to do with the Asia-Pacific region. The Cold War has long since ended, and de-escalation has become the trend of the times, said the scholar, adding that a military bloc like NATO is obsolete.
Meanwhile, instead of working to ease regional tensions, Japan has strengthened its military alliance with the United States, moved closer to NATO, which is an "instrument of war" far away in Europe, and cooperated with the United States in forming a new military bloc in the Asia-Pacific region. This is completely against the trend of the times, said Saionji.
He believes that at present, creating an environment for peaceful development and working together to develop the economy are the joint aspirations of the Asia-Pacific countries.
Japan's cooperation with NATO in interfering in Asia-Pacific affairs is to bring military confrontation and conflicts into the region, which regional countries firmly oppose, he added.
Saionji stressed that Japan should reflect on its history of militarism and aggression, draw lessons from it, and at the same time completely abandon the Cold War mentality, oppose hegemonism, adhere to pacifism, and contribute to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. ■
