Technically, China has never issued any formal threats of using force against Japan(google that one), North Korea is as much as PITA for China as well as the re

Technically, China has never issued any formal threats of using force against Japan(google that one), North Korea is as much as PITA for China as well as the rest of the world. The only reason DPRK is still here is because China doesn't want any massive influx of refugees (North Koreans can't cross into the South directly because of the landmines in the DMZ). As much as I hate the current regime in China, I don't see them being a threat to world peace. The fear of totalitarian regimes is pretty much a BS notion manufactured by the American media. A totalitarian leader is only a threat to world peace under the following conditions: 1) He's extremely charismatic. 2) His country is running out of resources. 3) He believes he is under a great external threat. China hasn't seen a charismatic leader since Mao, tho running out of resources, it is actively addressing it by developing renewable resources. There is also no country openly hostile to China, including Japan. I don't have anything against Japan increasing meagerly its military budget, or even repeal Article 9. It's fully their right to do so as long as they are not hostile. But saying Japan is not potentially dangerous is not entirely correct. Japan is still mostly ruled by a right wing aristocracy that have extremely close relationship with the government officials during WWII. Economy has stagnated and arguable steadily declining since the 90s. It has almost no natural resources for an industrialized nation to speak of and it believes it is under constant thread from North Korea. All that it takes is a charismatic Japanese leader and a crappy Chinese defense to see Japan aggression rise up again.