Japan has become further pronounced in its attempt at overseas expansion.

At a recent ministerial meeting, the Japanese government decided to extend the duration of stationing of an escort ship of the Maritime Self-Defence Force dispatched to the sea off Somalia for one more year and to increase the number of the crew under the pretext of "counter-piracy activities".

It also decided to extend the period of activities of SDF personnel dispatched to the multinational forces and inspection group in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt for one more year.

What cannot be overlooked are the military operations of the Maritime SDF that is gaining momentum.

In November, it held joint naval drills with the carrier strike force of the British navy in the Gulf of Aden in the sea off Somalia and with the Australian navy in the sea south of Shikoku.

It frequently holds joint military exercises with multinational forces in the seas off Japan. A good example is the five-nation joint military exercises it conducted with the naval forces of the US, Australia, Canada and Germany in the Philippine Sea near the southern part of Japan for 10 days until November 30.

Experts contend that the drill would threaten peace in East Asia and arouse displeasure of regional countries as more than 30 warships including the nuclear carrier USS Carl Vinson of the US navy and dozens of airplanes were involved in it.

Japan's repeated extension of the SDF's presence overseas and intensive joint military drills are dangerous moves aimed at launching overseas aggression any moment by perfecting the SDF's war capability and regularizing and validating its overseas advance.

Since the adoption of a law on overseas dispatch under the signboard of "peace-keeping" in 1992, Japan has dispatched SDF troops to various places across the world, accumulating experiences in actual wars.

It has repeatedly extended the period of presence of the SDF troops dispatched overseas under various pretexts, while continuously expanding the scope of their military operation overseas.

The SDF has already been turned into attack-oriented aggression forces and regular armed forces for overseas reinvasion in breach of the principle of "exclusive defence".

However, the Japanese authorities now plan to double the military spending, which has so far been limited to be less than 1% of GDP, to earmark the biggest "defence" budget for next year.

The Japanese media comment that in case this is realized, Japan will come third in the world in the military expenditure.

The ultimate goal of Japan is to turn into a military power as soon as possible and develop attack weapons and thus contain regional countries and retake its past position as a suzerain country.

Japan is not only a war criminal country which provoked a war of aggression against Asian countries in the past and a defeated nation, but also a criminal country which has not yet redeemed its past after the lapse of several decades.

This country with such a dangerous outlook on history is bolstering military capabilities for attack, which indicates that it can come out for overseas aggression at any moment.

Herein lies the reason why the international community should be vigilant against Japan's moves.

Japan should bear in mind that rushing headlong into military expansion, being oblivious of its past history, will bring it self-destruction only.