That was some 70 years ago. Today, China is much stronger. China overtook Japan in terms of GDP in 2010 and maintains its high-speed growth. The Chinese are going to the moon and to the bottom of the oceans.

Japan's taking on China is "like an ant trying to topple a giant tree," as the Chinese saying goes.

China, however, is taking Japan's challenge very seriously. The newly established air defense identification zone (ADIZ) serves as an example. Japan has had its own ADIZ for many years and has been continuously expanding it. Yet it demands that China dismantle its ADIZ. The arrogance of a defeated aggressor is just unbelievable. Needless to say, China is determined to defend its rights. People manning peaceful flights have nothing to worry about. China's ADIZ is a zone of safety, not of danger; it is a zone of co-operation, not confrontation.

As far as territorial integrity and national sovereignty are concerned, China will not budge an inch. But China has not and will not occupy an inch of another country's territory. It has not and will not establish any foreign military base. All talks of China being "assertive" are nonsense.

Shinzo Abe's Japan is assertive and aggressive. It denies Japan's war crimes, and refuses to atone for them. It attempts to overturn the international order established by the allies' defeat of the fascist powers. We have just observed the seventieth anniversary of the Cairo Declaration, which defines Japan's obligations: it must return all territories it illegally occupied to their rightful owners. It is clearer than ever that Shinzo Abe is barking up the wrong tree.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm

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