The Chinese media and the Japanese media are having an all out fight of words. The cause of the fighting is the Japanese media's claim that "Chinese frigate reportedly put a radar lock on a Japanese navy ship. While Chinese media claims that this is not true and that the Chinese Defense Ministry said that "Japan deliberately creating a tense atmosphere and misleading international opinion,” the question is who is telling the truth and who has the most to gain by lying.
For some reason or another it is hard to believe that Japan would deliberately cause tension with China. Well in a "An editorial in Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po says Japan has "other motives in being the guilty party accusing the victim" over this issue. "When visiting the US at the end of February, Abe [Japan Prime Minister] hopes that US President Obama will have a 'positive' stance on softening restrictions on Japan's right to collective self-defence... To win more bargaining chips, Japan chose this moment to suddenly create the tense atmosphere of an imminent Sino-Japanese military conflict to seek concessions from the US on easing restrictions on its right of collective self-defence, the editorial in the Hong Kong-based newspaper adds."
So is this the reason why Japan would want to create tension? In the hope that U.S. would lose thier control over Japan's military or in order for the U.S. to aviod a war with China? Japanese media has counterattacked this outrageous claim.
Stating, "Crossing the line of international common sense of armed forces is extremely dangerous provocation... Now, not only is China engaging in coercive action towards neighbouring countries in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, besides Asia, China has become a common concern of the international community. Japan should strengthen co-operation with the US and South East Asian countries, while encouraging China to rectify its problem behaviour." Reported by "An editorial in Tokyo's Yomiuri Shimbun"
Japanese media claim China to be the aggressor and that they have been causing trouble for years. It is true that China doesn't have a great track record of not being aggressive and of course the internal human right violations that the Chinese government have committed on their own people is whole other can of worms for China. But for once China might be telling the truth, who gains the most from lying is Japan. If U.S. looses control over Japan's military, Japan would once again be seen as a country that can stand on it's own two feet and that can be seen as a threat if any country tries to attack them. If Japan and China ever went to war, Japan could at least defend themselves if the U.S. decided to back out of the war.