The U.S. ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schrieffer, on Tuesday exhorted the Japanese to increase their defense spending in response to a military buildup across East Asia. Schrieffer pointed to the fact that nations across East Asia are spending a lot of money on military programs; he urged the Japanese to do the same. His main concern was that the United States needed a militarily strong Japanese ally to offset the rising dominance of China in the region.

Over the past decade, China’s defense spending has been increasing at an average of 14.2 percent a year while Japan’s defense spending has stagnated at around 1 percent of its gross domestic product (although even 1 percent of Japan’s enormous gdp amounts to over $40 billion). Japan is currently boosting its military capacity by seeking to buy six Aegis destroyers fitted with anti-missile capabilities and by passing legislation that removes a 40-year ban on using space technology for military purposes.

The United States is encouraging Japan to disregard Article 9 of the 1946 Japanese Constitution, which states that “land, sea and air forces, as well as any other war potential, will never be maintained.” Washington is taking this stance in an attempt to strengthen Japan as an East Asian ally against China.

The fact is, however, that Japan no longer regards China as an enemy. While tensions between the U.S. and Japan are increasing over the alleged rape of a 14-year-old Okinawa girl by a U.S. marine, relations between China and Japan have never been better.

On February 27, Japanese chief of the Joint Staff Office of Self-Defense Forces Takashi Saito met with China’s Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan in Beijing; the two military leaders agreed to enhance military cooperation between their two countries. With its own state-of-the-art defense force and its growing military alliance with China, Japan is swiftly approaching the point to where it will no longer need the U.S. as a military partner, but will instead cooperate with its East Asian neighbors.

By exhorting Japan to increase its military spending, the United States will ultimately strengthen, not counter, its East Asian rivals. For more information on Japan’s changing military loyalties, read “A Military Love Triangle: America, China and Japan.”