Opinion | US and Japan's defence moves a test for Beijing
Greg Torode wonders how Beijing could ensure Japan doesn't boost its defence spending to compensate for any reduced US presence in the region

The prospect of increased defence spending by Japan presents a host of challenges for China. In the longer term, they will be strategic and diplomatic, but more immediately it is proving a test for China's rhetoric.
Seemingly as a matter of course, mainland scholars warned recently against any steps by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to boost defence budgets.
The controversial US strategic "pivot" back to the region has been similarly contested by Chinese officials as outdated thinking and further evidence of Washington's habitual "cold war mentality". Significantly, the core of that pivot remains the formidable and decades-old US military presence in Japan. That includes, of course, the 7th Fleet at Yokosuka near Tokyo, buttressed by the USS George Washington - the only US aircraft carrier permanently deployed outside America.
While Beijing has formally acknowledged the contribution of the US to regional security, it bristles against activity close to its shores and is increasingly sensitive to anything that smacks of containment.
Any future drawdown of the US presence, particularly in Japan, would undoubtedly be met with dry eyes in Beijing. As one Chinese naval official put it to brass from the US navy's Pacific Command during a private gathering a few years ago, "you look after everything in the Pacific east of Hawaii, and we'll look after everything to the west".
The potential for a reduced US presence should not be forgotten, given the ongoing questions about Washington's ability to sustain its naval reach.