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Tokyo [Japan]Nov 28 (ANI): Beijing is seeking to continually “create gray zone” operations to pressure rivals as it avoids military clashes with other countries, according to a report from Japan’s Ministry of Defense think tank.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, has been strengthening its armed forces and non-military organizations through reorganization and reforms, Japan’s National Defense Research Institute said in its “China Security Report 2023” on Friday, The Japan Times reported. .
China’s increased capabilities in gray zone situations, the report said, stemmed from the integration of the Chinese coast guard and “maritime militia” into the military command.
The report also cites the construction of these organizational devices. Its release comes amid an ongoing spat between Tokyo and Beijing over the Senkaku Islands, a group of small East China Sea islands administered by Japan but claimed by China, The Japan Times reported.
China’s continued incursions into the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have angered Japan as Beijing increasingly craves gains in Tokyo’s territory.
Although the Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan, China has been flexing its muscles and claiming them as Beijing’s territory.
China has been sending official ships into islands surrounding Japanese territorial waters in an attempt to assert sovereignty over the so-called Diaoyu Islands, The Japan Times reported.
“Since the 2010s, the coast guard and maritime militia have intensified their activities,” said Shinji Yamaguchi, a senior fellow at the institute and one of the report’s authors.
“They also weaponized the campaign,” Yamaguchi told reporters.
In 2018, the China Coast Guard was assigned to the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force, a paramilitary force overseen by China’s Central Military Commission, the Japan Times reported.
China’s coast guard has taken a tougher stance in the South China Sea, where Beijing has conflicting territorial claims with neighbors such as the Philippines and Vietnam, compared with the East China Sea, the report said.
China has also stepped up its “influence operations” through social media campaigns and other means in an attempt to “correct Western ‘misunderstandings’ and actively spread Chinese views and narratives at home and abroad,” it said.
The spread of fake news and other influence operations against Taiwan are the “most obvious examples,” according to The Japan Times, which the report says poses a “significant threat” to the self-governing democratic island.
Experts say the philosophy of Chinese President Xi Jinping is “what’s ours is ours, and what’s yours is negotiable”. China’s actions clearly show that it is unilaterally trying to change the status quo, stir up neighboring countries, and bring instability to the region.
Amid escalating tensions with China, Japan is in heated discussions about increasing its defense budget and developing nuclear-powered submarines on disputed islands in the East China Sea. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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