India's recent attempts at forging closer ties with Japan and South East ASian Nations have not gobe down well with the Chinese Prime Minister Manmohan Singh concluding a successful visit ot Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia, the Chinese media have reacted with disdain and made light of India's attempts to form a "regional counter balance to China."
An article in the Chinese newpaper
People Daily, says that Japan is eeking out India to secure its supply of rare earth materials. Japan is said to be anxious to decrease its undue reliance on Chinese rare earth materials.
The People Daily is the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party and such articles are believed to be the an insight into the Chinese leadership's thinking.
India and Japan are ideal partners as they believe that by coming together they could counter balance China's military assertiveness, especially in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, the article said
Some Japanese experts have questioned the Tokyo's close ties with India and Vietnam saying that their pre-existing
issues may drag Japan into an unnecessary confrontation with Beijing.
The report also said that India cannot relax just by taking advantage of the China-Japan standoff. Criticising India's 'Look East Policy' as a failure of India's policy of Non-Alignment, the article said India "should skip the out-of-tune-piece."The article concluded by saying that the Indian leadership would do well to remember that China was India largest trading partner in Asia with an estimated US $ 60 billion in total.