By Shannon Tiezzi
China lambasts the new guidelines, and the entire U.S.-Japan alliance, as a relic from the Cold War.
The biggest deliverable of Shinzo Abe’s visit to the United States so far was actually cemented before Abe arrived in Washington, D.C. The new U.S.-Japan Defense Guidelines, which are designed to expand Japan’s ability to contribute to the alliance as well as providing for better integration between the U.S. military and Japan Self Defense Forces, were finalized during a “two-plus-two” meeting between the two countries’ foreign and defense ministers in New York.
“The main achievement of issuing the new guidelines is to intensify and reinforce the deterrence and responsiveness to the complex new security environment in East Asia,” Yasuhisa Kawamura, foreign press secretary at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told The Diplomat on Wednesday. While Japanese officials (including Kawamura) have been careful to say that the new guidelines do not target any third country, they are widely read as a response to China’s increasing military capabilities. So what does China think of the new guidelines?
Read the full story at The Diplomat