Japan will stand up to China, says PM Shinzo Abe

{Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says other countries want Japan to adopt a more assertive leadership role in Asia to counter the growing power of China. }

Mr Abe told the Wall Street Journal there were “concerns that China was trying to change the status quo by force, rather than by the rule of law”.

Relations between China and Japan have been strained over recent years.

China said on Saturday that if Japan shot down Chinese drones, this would be considered “an act of war” by Beijing.

The statement was referring to reports that Mr Abe had approved defence plans that envisaged using air force planes to shoot down unmanned Chinese aircraft in Japanese airspace.

Another contentious issue between the two countries is the dispute over a group of islands.

The islands, in the East China Sea, are controlled by Tokyo, but claimed by Beijing.

But analysts say the nations’ rivalry reflects the power shift created by China’s meteoric economic and diplomatic rise while Japan has been mired in a two-decade economic slump.

China has warned against Japanese nationalism in a region where Japan’s colonial expansionism is still bitterly remembered.

BBC