Japan underreported 640 kilograms of unused plutonium in its annual report to the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2012 and 2013. However, Western public opinion has tried to downplay this inappropriate omission instead of holding the Japanese government to account. As result, the underreporting has not caused any real harm to Japan. But if the same thing was done by China, how would the West react?

This is not a game of ideology because Tokyo's failure to report the immense amount of plutonium it holds concerns the core of Asia-Pacific security.

As a highly industrialized country, Japan has nuclear materials that can be used to assemble 5,000 bombs as well as the most advanced computer systems capable of simulating nuclear tests, all of which has enabled it to leap to No. 3 nuclear power after the US and Russia in a short time. Such facts also constitute a striking loophole in the global management of nuclear non-proliferation.

Japan is the only country in the world that has ever suffered from nuclear strikes and it was the US, its ally and protector, that slipped it into the nuclear calamity. Activities commemorating victims of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have dominated Tokyo's "reflection" on WWII for decades. Japan's right-wing forces clearly understand the importance and have the utmost desire for atomic bombs.

Japanese right wing's desire for revenge has been suppressed for the past more than half a century, but it never vanished. It has been stealthily lurking among the pathos of Japanese society, unsatisfied by being treated as a defeated state till today and its inexplicable dislike of China's rise.

Beijing is no more than a potential threat to Tokyo. The two neighbors have been wrangling over the tiny Diaoyu Islands and China has little political influence over Japan. It is Washington that can determine Tokyo's destiny and help it regain the status of a first-class military power.

What is disconcerting is that the US has been vacillating between controlling and indulging this staunch Asian ally.

With the rise of China, the White House began to consider turning Japan into a tool to balance China. And sensing this opportunity, Tokyo hopes to break free from the strategic bondage that has restrained it for 70 years.

Japan's bold steps in nuclear buildup will definitely rewrite the Asia-Pacific geopolitical landscape.

If Japan owns atomic bombs one day, China wouldn't necessarily be its prime target, which is viewed as its certain logic though.

Japanese right-wing forces are trying to revitalize the nation's influence in the western Pacific, which, once fully realized, will pose a far more severe challenge to the international order than the friction the US feels with China. If Washington continues to turn a blind eye to Japan's nuclear activities and motives, it would regret its decision eventually.