After Japan recently released its 2011 defense white paper labeling China as a threat, Beijing on Thursday voiced its strong opposition to the appellation and urged Tokyo to make concrete efforts in maintaining regional peace and stability.
"Japan's defense white paper intentionally plays up the ‘China threat theory' and has ulterior motives," Ministry of National Defense spokesman Geng Yansheng said on Thursday.
"China unswervingly adheres to the path of peaceful development. China modernizes its defense only to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to ensure a smooth economic and social growth," Geng said.
"We hope the Japanese side will take into consideration the overall situation of China-Japan relations and make more efforts to build mutual trust with its neighbors and safeguard the region's peace and stability," he added.
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu also lent his voice to the matter, speaking out about Beijing's "strong dissatisfaction" concerning the white paper, saying the report had made "irresponsible comments."
The Japanese cabinet endorsed the white paper Tuesday, which urges Tokyo to build a "flexible defense force" against "overbearing" Chinese maritime activities.
The annual review, running to over 400 pages, said China is expanding its presence in the South China Sea and the Pacific, and concluded that such moves could "affect the peace and stability of the region and international society."
The white paper contained a new section on the South China issue, which sees China's sovereignty claims challenged by several ASEAN countries.
The paper also finds fault with the transparency of China's defense spending, claiming that expenditure is rapidly soaring and that the spending details are murky.
Gary Li, a marine analyst at Exclusive Analysis, told the Global Times that the more vocal and confrontational tone of this white paper, as opposed to previous ones, reflects a growing confidence in Japan about its defensive capabilities, as well as its desire to play a larger role in regional security matters.
"For the usually highly secretive Chinese military, existing information is already an example of military transparency, while for the West, which is more used to an open declaration of their armed forces, this is not enough. It remains difficult to find a middle ground," Li said.
On July 26, the manned submersible Jiaolong succeeded in diving down to 5,057 meters underwater in the Pacific Ocean. This made China the fifth country to send a manned dive to deeper than 3,500 meters below sea level, following the US, France, Russia and Japan.
However, the move was interpreted by Japanese media as putting in play "resources vying for war" in the Asia-Pacific region, with reports saying the submersible could help greatly upgrade China's submarines.
In June, Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), confirmed that China is refitting its first aircraft carrier, the first official acknowledgement concerning the vessel following months of speculation.
Yang Bojiang, director of Japanese Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that Chinese officials have much to learn concerning the disclosure of military information.
"When you are building something such as an aircraft carrier, it is natural for your neighbors to feel anxious. To simply say such a development is defensive in nature is not enough to ease their anxiety," Yang said.
"Japan has had financial difficulties making its defense plan work. Creating a public sensation of fear may help this," Yang added.
To bridge the gap, Li noted that Western nations can improve their study of Chinese materials on the PLA's development.
"The language barrier is often overlooked," Li said, adding that China can increase transparency by allowing observers at military exercises, multiply multilateral exercises and publish more information about its armed forces.
"In the end, it will be almost impossible for this issue to fully avoid being hijacked by political agendas, and we can expect more accusations of opacity in future," he added.
Sino-Japanese ties reached a low point in September when Japanese patrol ships collided with a Chinese trawler in waters near the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. The trawler's crew and captain were detained for several days.
Japan's Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said earlier this year that Tokyo needs to develop ties with the US and South Korea to counterbalance China's military expansion, adding that Japan is particularly concerned about China's growing naval capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Huang Shaojie, Sun Wei and agencies contributed to this story