TOKYO, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Japan, a country outside the South China Sea region, has recently ramped up its presence in the area, with clearly provocative undertones.

During the U.S.-Philippines joint military exercises known as Balikatan held from April 20 to May 8, Japan sent a large contingent of combat personnel for the first time and fired Type 88 surface-to-ship missiles on the very day its Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi showed up to observe the drills.

Particularly egregious, the Japanese destroyer JS Ikazuchi, which took part in the exercises, had only recently lingered suspiciously in the Taiwan Strait for more than 10 hours.

Moreover, during his visit to the Philippines, Koizumi and his Philippine counterpart issued a joint statement, voicing concern over what they called China's "dangerous and coercive activities" near Japan and the Philippines.

It is clear that an external power stirring up trouble and flexing its muscles in the South China Sea is driven by geopolitical calculations and military ambitions.

Given its history, Japan bears grave responsibility for its past brutal actions in the South China Sea and is in no position to weigh in on regional affairs.

In the late 19th century, as Japan's militarist ambition for overseas aggression surged, the country began turning its attention southward. In 1907, the Japanese government connived at the merchant Kichiji Nishizawa's encroachment on the Dongsha Island. During World War II, Japan made the South China Sea a key pivot of its southward expansion strategy, forcibly occupying the Xisha and Nansha Islands, and committing grave crimes against China and other countries in the region.

After the war, under international legal instruments including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, all Chinese territories stolen by Japan, including the islands and reefs of the South China Sea, were restored to China, in law and in fact.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trial. Yet, instead of reflecting on its wartime crimes, Japan -- the past aggressor -- has returned to the South China Sea under the guise of security cooperation, brandishing its military might. Such behavior, ignoring history and distorting facts, is a blatant challenge to the postwar international order.

Japan's relentless meddling in the South China Sea exposes its dangerous geopolitical ambitions.

In recent years, Japan has attempted to build blocs and fuel confrontation. Senior Japanese officials have frequently visited Southeast Asia, repeatedly hyping up the so-called "China threat" while touting a revamped "free and open Indo-Pacific" vision and exploiting maritime issues to ratchet up regional tensions.

Japan has also sought to bundle together issues involving the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea while steadily expanding its military footprint. The fact that the destroyer JS Ikazuchi headed straight for the South China Sea after its provocative transit of the Taiwan Strait speaks volumes.

Beyond that, Japan has actively pursued defense cooperation with the Philippines and other countries, sold arms to regional states, and stoked tensions in an effort to draw them into the orbit of the U.S.-Japan alliance.

At a deeper level, Japan's troublemaking in the South China Sea is a stepping stone toward its broader ambitions of remilitarization and military expansion.

In recent years, Japanese right-wing forces have been steadily chipping away at the constraints of the postwar pacifist Constitution, pushing the country's security policies in an increasingly offensive and expansionist direction.

The firing of the land-based anti-ship missiles during the U.S.-Philippines military exercises marked the first time since World War II that Japan has launched offensive missiles in the Philippines, sending another dangerous signal that Tokyo is departing from its long-held "exclusively defense-oriented policy."

At the same time, the Japanese government has significantly revised the "three principles on transfer of defense equipment and technology" and their implementation guidelines, and is considering exporting or providing free of charge lethal weapons, including used destroyer escorts, to the Philippines and other countries. This is, in essence, a trial run for building a regional arms export system, and a vehicle for projecting Japanese military power overseas.

Stirring up security anxieties among neighboring countries and manufacturing "external threats" has long been a preferred tactic of Japan to justify a massive military buildup and, ultimately, revive a new form of militarism.

The South China Sea is the shared home of regional countries, not a chessboard for actors with ulterior motives to advance their own interests.

By single-mindedly pushing bloc confrontation and military rivalry into the South China Sea for its own gain, Japan has become a source of instability that undermines peace and tranquility in the Asia-Pacific region.

History has shown time and again that those who play with fire will get burned. Any attempt to rope in external forces, fuel geopolitical confrontation, or undermine regional stability will ultimately be condemned by the countries in the region and the broader international community. ■