Abe's comments 'wrong and dangerous'

BEIJING -- The world should be cautious against Japan's attempt to break its peaceful constitution and the potential threat to regional peace, Chinese experts warned on Friday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's comparison of China-Japan relations to those between Britain and Germany on the eve of World War I (WWI) was "wrong and dangerous", according to an article published in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China.

Special: China-Japan relations

Abe's comment is like a thief crying "stop thief", said the article written by Jin Canrong, deputy dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University, and doctor Wang Hao with the school.

With peace and development at the fore, the international system has been totally different from that before WWI when war was a major solution to conflicts amid rampant social Darwinism, according to the article.

Current China-Japan relations also differ from those between Britain and Germany in that China, which built and benefits from the post-war peace order, has no reason to change the status quo, said the article. It added that Japan, as a defeated country of WWII, was far from Britain's position in the world before WWI.

"Now it is Japan, rather than China, that is making aggressive gestures," the article said. "It is clear who is the 'trouble-maker' in Asia and the world."

While China is realizing its rise within the international system through peaceful development, Japan is making reckless moves toward a "normal country" by challenging the post-war international order.

The article pointed out the Japanese government's provocative actions on territorial and historical issues have worsened its relations with neighboring countries. Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals, has even upset the United States and European countries.

As the domestic politics of Japan shift to the right, militarism is on the rise and Abe's comments mean the world should be on high alert, the article said.

Dates set to honor victory, mourn Nanjing	Chinese citizens file suit against Japanese firms for forced labor