Chinese media accuse Japan PM Shinzo Abe of 'dangerous politics'

Two of China’s top newspapers accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday of dangerous politics that could threaten regional security, as Tokyo warned Beijing not to expand gas exploration in disputed waters of the East China Sea.

The People’s Liberation Army Daily said Abe was trying to play the “China threat” angle, to win votes in July 21 elections, with a visit on Wednesday to Japan’s southern island of Ishigaki, near islets claimed by both China and Japan.

Territorial claims by Japan and China over the uninhabited islets and resource-rich waters in the East China Sea, as well as China’s claims over the South China Sea, rank as some of Asia’s biggest security risks.

During the visit to Ishigaki island, Abe repeated Tokyo’s stand that the nearby disputed Senkaku islands, called the Diaoyu by China, are inherent Japanese territory, adding that he has no intention of conceding even one step.

“This kind of ‘drinking poison to slake ones thirst’ not only threatens regional stability, it gives encouragement to Japan’s ‘turn to the right’,” said the daily.