Shinzo Abe's conservative government releases its White Paper on defence. In it, it warns that China's "dangerous" attitude and North Korea's unpredictable nature should not be underestimated because they threaten regional peace. As China boosts its defence spending, Japan is following suits with US$ 240 billion more in military hardware.

Tokyo (AsiaNews) - China's "dangerous" attitude and its attempts to undermine international law in the East China Sea " may cause unintended consequences" in the region, this according to Japan's white paper on defence.

The study also warns that an unpredictable North Korea "repeatedly uses militarily provocative words and actions".

The 505-pages paper points the finger at Beijing's exponential increase in military spending, noting that Tokyo is doing the same for the first time in 12 years.

For Japan the latest in a series of hostile acts was the Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), that China  unilaterally declared at the end of 2013.

The move to set up this zone, which effectively places a larger area under Chinese control, has been criticised by Washington as well.

For several analysts, it is precisely in this area that the Asian powers could come to blows.

"Japan is deeply concerned about the establishment of 'the East China Sea ADIZ, which is a profoundly dangerous act that ... [may] escalate the situation and may cause unintended consequences" in the region, the white paper said.

Indeed, such fears do not seem exaggerated. In June 2014, two Chinese warplanes flew less than 30 metres from Japanese jets in the zone where the air defences of the two countries overlap.

Beijing rejected the charges saying that Tokyo was responsible for the incident.

The East China Sea, covered by China's ADIZ, includes the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands claimed by both China and Japan, where both nations have flexed their muscles.

Even in the South China Sea, the situation remains very tense. Here Chinese territorial claims clash with the interests of Vietnam, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries who have on several occasions reacted vehemently to Beijing's "hostile acts".

China's defence spending have also raised concern. In the past decade, its defence budget rose fourfold compared to Japan's steady decline. In view of this, Tokyo has decided to reverse the trend and during the current fiscal year will boost military spending by 2.2 per cent.

After reviewing the national constitution, de facto abolishing Article 9 and paving the way for the country's rearmament, Shinzo Abe's government plans to invest between now and 2019 about 25 trillion yen (about US$ 240 billion) to upgrade its military hardware and defence systems.

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