It is understandable that Japan views China’s “rise” with concern. On the list of Japan’s concerns are China’s rapidly growing military expenditure, its increased economic competitiveness, its geographic proximity to Japan and its historical track record of aggressive territorial assertiveness.
The most recent manifestation of the tension between the two great powers was the Chinese declaration of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, above the Senkaku Islands claimed by Japan as well as China, which calls them the Diaoyu Islands. From the Japanese perspective, China’s behavior is illegal. But this is not the only area of China’s “illegal activity” of concern to Tokyo. Beyond territorial claims and security issues, there are concerns about the nature of the economic competition Japan is being subjected to.
Japan’s economy is the third largest in the world, with highly intellectual property-intensive industries. In addition to being heavily dependent upon natural resource imports, Japan is also an export-dependent economy. Consequently the protection of intellectual property rights is of critical importance to Japan.