An editorial in China’s state media on Sunday urged Japan’s newly elected government to adopt a foreign policy that will repair ties with its neighbors, the AFP reported. State-owned Xinhua News Agency said that the winning party should “devise its foreign policy with a long-term and pragmatic” view and that it was a “troubling sign” that some prospective Japanese parties were adopting a hawkish stance over the nation’s territorial disputes. “These policies, if carried out, will surely further sour Japan’s relations with its neighbors and even increase political and military risks in the region,” Xinhua said. The dispute between the two countries over islands in the East China Seas boosted right-wing sentiment in Japan that helped the LDP defeat the incumbent Democratic Party of Japan. Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party retook the majority in elections on Sunday, winning 294 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament. The outcome makes it almost certain that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will return to that post as soon as December 25.
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