As China's close neighbor, Japan clearly needs to maintain relatively harmonious relations with China, as robust economic ties and frequent people-to-people exchanges are mutually beneficial.
Even if high-ranking Japanese officials such as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi may feel obliged to push Japan into playing a part in the United States' contain-China rodeo, they cannot ignore the dire consequences of harming bilateral cooperation by being an overly enthusiastic wanna-be cowboy.
So while Kishida and Kishi both played up China-related issues in their speeches at the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Kishi also agreed in his talks with Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the regional security forum that the two militaries should promote dialogue and exchanges.
The necessity of improving their military-to-military ties and properly handling the differences between the two countries is beyond doubt. But given Japan's recent provocations in relation to the Taiwan question, the Japanese side needs to show its sincerity by matching these words with deeds.
Both at the Shangri-La Dialogue and on other occasions, Japan has followed the US' lead in accusing China of aggression, coercion and rules-breaking behavior. In his speech addressing the Singapore forum, Kishida even tried to inflate the spurious allegations of a wolf in the fold by raising the alarm that China's actions are the precursors of war in the region. "Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow," he cautioned.
Given how that conflict was provoked and is being prolonged, he would have been more on the money if the wolf he was warning of was the US, but let's not digress. Let's keep the focus on Tokyo's tin-star ambitions.
If Tokyo pursues its desire to play deputy sheriff in Washington's Wild West show, it will only sow the seeds for a strategic misjudgment.
Tokyo should not let Kishi's remarks in his talk with Wei be nothing more than a courtesy of the hour. It should endeavor to substantiate them not only by strengthening military-to-military communication but also by making efforts with Beijing to build greater mutual trust.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties. The two countries should take it as an opportunity to make joint efforts to forge a stable relationship that meets their own requirements and those of the region.
The wisdom of bitter experience is highlighted in the old curse "may you live in interesting times", an apt descriptor of today.
But a benevolent lesson has also been learned from such times, which is encapsulated in the adage that good-neighborly relations are something to be treasured.
Better relations would enable the two neighbors to play a joint and constructive role in regional peace and stability and join hands with countries in the region to accelerate the mutually beneficial momentum of regional economic integration.
Conversely, by letting itself be marshaled into the US' friction-and-confrontation bulldogging strategy, Japan will only play havoc with the region's hard-won peace and stability.