China on Friday insisted that its military development was "defensive in nature" and said Japan's adoption of a more proactive defence policy was "irresponsible," according to dpa. "No country has the right to appoint itself as the representative of the international community and make irresponsible comments on China's development," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement in response to Japan's announcement of its new policy. Japan said its new policy was developed in response to growing concerns in Tokyo over terrorist threats, North Korean aggression and China's military rise. Jiang said China "poses no threat to any nation" and "follows the path of peaceful development." Its military policy was "defensive in nature." "The fact is that China's development since its [economic] reform and opening up has brought huge opportunities of common prosperity to the world, including Japan," she said. Japan's National Defence Programme Guidelines, the first update since 2004, allow for more flexible responses to threats and a beefing-up of security around Japan's remote and often disputed islands, the Kyodo News agency reported. According to the outline, China's military rise and its increasing naval activities near Japanese islands in the South China Sea was a "matter of concern for the region and the international community."
