Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has told Japanese troops that Japan would not tolerate the use of force to change the region's status quo, comments likely to rile Beijing which is locked in a long and bitter territorial dispute with Tokyo.
"Use of force for changing the status quo" is an expression often used by Japanese politicians and security experts to indirectly refer to what they see as China's aggressive maritime expansion in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
Mr Abe's remarks are the second in as many days in which he has effectively said Japan is ready to be more assertive towards China.
Chinese military aircraft flew near Japan for a third day in a row, prompting Tokyo to scramble fighter jets each time.
Mr Abe is seen as a hawkish nationalist who wishes to revise a post-war pacifist constitution drafted by the US and strengthen Japan's defence posture.
His comment comes after the Chinese Defence Ministry warned Japan not to underestimate China's resolve to take measures necessary to protect itself.
Ties between Asia's two largest economies deteriorated sharply after Japan bought three of the disputed East China Sea islets, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from a private owner in September 2012, sparking large protests and boycotts of Japanese goods across China.
Patrol ships from both countries have been shadowing each other near the islets, raising fears that an accidental collision or other unintended incident could develop into a larger clash.
Mr Abe said Japanese troops should discard the notion all they should do in peace time was train, calling on them to contribute to peace and stability. "It is your responsibility to resolutely defend the people's lives and property as well as our territory, waters and airspace, and to contribute to the world's peace and stability," Mr Abe said.
Japan scrambled fighter jets after two Chinese bombers and two airborne early warning planes flew near Japan's southern islands into the Pacific and then back into the East China Sea. No violation of Japanese airspace took place.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article