By Rae Wee and Jun Yuan Yong
SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Sunday refuted accusations of "new militarism" by Tokyo and criticised China for rapidly increasing military capabilities without transparency, underlining deepening tensions between the two nations.
China continues to increase its defence spending at a high level, Koizumi said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, adding: "China's external approach and military activities are matters of serious concern for Japan and the international community at the same time."
Refuting allegations that Japan was embarking on new militarism, he said: "Think about it. There's a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers. Japan has neither of such weapons, and yet Japan is labelled 'new militarism'?"
"Since the end of the Second World war, Japan has consistently respected international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, and has made sincere efforts tomaintain and strengthen a free and open international order," he added.
In May, China's foreign ministry called on Asia-Pacific countries to be vigilant and "jointly resist the reckless actions of Japan's neo-militarism".
Ties between Japan and China sank to their worst level in years after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese military response.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, over the objections of Taipei's government.
Koizumi said he felt "sad" about not being able to meet his Chinese counterpart at the dialogue, Asia's premier defence forum.
"But again, we keep the door open to talks. I remain committed to communicating with the countries concerned, including China for the peace and stability in the region and of
the world."
For the second year running, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun has given the free-wheeling Singapore security meeting a miss, skipping opportunities to meet his counterparts.
Koizumi said Japan is "determined" to play a new role in defence equipment cooperation in the Asia-Pacific and aims to tangibly strengthen deterrence in the region.
In April, Tokyo unveiled its biggest overhaul of defence export rules in decades, scrapping restrictions on overseas arms sales and opening the way for exports of warships, missiles and other weapons.
(Reporting by Jun Yuan YongEditing by Shri Navaratnam and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
