Policy-makers in Tokyo and Washington fear Beijing could trigger instability.

Alarm bells are ringing in Tokyo and Washington over China's splurge in military spending.

Fearing China could develop an adversarial relationship with them, the two governments have begun mapping a new security strategy to dissuade Beijing from pursuing its military buildup.

A statement outlining the common strategic objectives of Japan and the United States is set to be announced after a key meeting of the Security Consultative Committee.

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono will represent Japan, while Washington's views will be presented by the U.S. secretaries of state and defense.

The committee is tentatively set to meet in February, but it could be delayed until March. The venue has not been announced.

The shared security objectives will form the basis of future discussions on the Pentagon's global realignment of U.S. military forces and the impact that it will have on Japan.

Lower-level consultations in the form of the Defense Policy Review Initiative started in 2003 as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Washington has made China's growing military might a central theme of those discussions.

In November, the two sides agreed to focus on three key issues: establishing common strategic objectives, dividing the roles and duties of the U.S. military and the Self-Defense Forces and discussing separate proposals for reorganizing U.S. bases in Japan.

Officials in Tokyo and Washington are now in the process of finalizing wording for the document to be issued after the Security Consultative Committee meeting, sources said.

In the course of discussions, both sides recognized that foreign policy initiatives on China likely will rank as the most important issues for diplomacy and national security in Asia and the Pacific this century, the sources said.

While both governments support China's efforts for greater openness and its growing presence on the world stage as an economic power, they are trying to emphasize to Beijing that it should not become a source of instability. They want to stress the meaningful benefits that will accrue through close cooperation at a regional as well as global level, the sources said.

U.S. officials are, however, deeply concerned about China's growing military strength, the sources said.

During earlier discussions, the sources said American officials referred to specific weapons systems in China's military arsenal and explained how they could affect U.S. military strategy.

Specifics were not disclosed.

While the United States does not currently view China as a military threat, the sources said Washington fears it could become one if Beijing continues with its large-scale purchases of military hardware.

In its latest Quadrennial Defense Review, released in 2001, the United States outlined a new dissuasion strategy to reflect new global realities with the end of the Cold War. Military deterrence and mutually assured destruction, or MAD, was at the core of Cold War strategy.

The new strategy relies on diplomacy to convince Beijing that a military buildup that puts it into possible military conflict with the United States is not in its interests.

During the discussions in November, U.S. officials pointed out that it would be important to dissuade China from possessing military strength that could be used to prevent other nations from intervening in a conflict between China and Taiwan, sources said.

The United States would be willing to heighten its military capability in the western Pacific Ocean to accomplish that goal, the sources said.

For its part, Tokyo remains extremely sensitive about policy or statements that identify China as a military threat. Japanese officials say labeling China as a threat would only add to regional instability.

That nervousness is demonstrated in the fact that Japanese officials refuse to state whether a crisis in the Taiwan Strait would constitute a military situation in an ``area near Japan.'' Japanese law allows for military cooperation between Japan and the United States in such cases.

Tokyo also realizes it needs to clarify its China policy, but not at the expense of provoking Beijing. Again this is a sensitive policy area given that China shows no sign of reducing the pace of its military buildup, the sources said.

The National Defense Program Outline approved by the Koizumi Cabinet in December cautioned that China's military buildup should be closely observed.

``There is a need to pay attention in the future'' to the modernization of the Chinese military and the range of its maritime activities, the outline said.(IHT/Asahi: January 15,2005)