Beijing should not overreact to Japan's proposal to create a four-nation alliance in the Asia-Pacific, which many see as an effort to contain the mainland's growing influence, government think-tanks said yesterday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged India on Wednesday to join his country in creating an 'arc of freedom' that would include the United States and Australia. Mr Abe laid out his vision in a historic address to India's Parliament. He said the alliance would be an association based on shared fundamental values such as freedom, democracy and respect for human rights. Many saw the proposal as an effort to contain the mainland, which has made tremendous economic progress but remains an authoritarian state. Mainland international relations experts shrugged off the proposal yesterday, saying such an alliance would not affect the mainland's role in the region. 'This partly reflects Japan's and some other countries' anxiety towards the rise of China,' said Gao Hong, director of Japanese politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Japanese Studies. 'But the pre-condition for the existence of such an alliance is a menacing China. As long as we commit to our peaceful development policy, containment will not work.' Professor Gao said he believed India and Australia would not be keen to join an alliance that stood in opposition to the mainland because a good relationship with Beijing would be in their interest. Despite a history of hostility, relations between the mainland and India are on the mend, driven by the need for a peaceful environment as the setting for booming economic development by both countries, he said. Quoting sources in India, some mainland media last week reported that the two countries had planned to hold a joint military exercise in Yunnan province in October. Professor Gao said Japan was torn between its desire to build a strong relationship with the mainland and its fear of the mainland's rise. Wang Yong, an expert on Sino-Japanese relations at Peking University, also said he believed India and Australia would not want to pursue a confrontational policy towards the mainland. He said the main trend in the Asia-Pacific region was one of co-operation. 'Asia-Pacific has entered a new era after the cold war,' Professor Wang said. 'There are many different voices and ideas under development. What we see here represents one of those ideas but it is not the dominant one.' Professor Wang said Japan's proposal was merely a way of enhancing its bargaining power with the mainland and exerting its influence in the region. 'But both China and Japan understand well that they need each other,' he said. 'The peace and prosperity of the region is based on a strong relationship between China and Japan. Nobody will gain from an Asia divided into two hostile camps.'
