Abe gambles on war-mongering ploys

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a gambler. In domestic politics, he has won more often than he has lost. But now he is throwing the dice more wildly with dangerous issues at stake.

In Japan's annual defense white paper on Tuesday, China was described as a threat in escalating regional tensions, which is apparently a move to drum up support for the controversial security legislation.

Last week, he rammed a series of controversial security-related bills through a special committee of the lower house of the Japanese parliament. If the full Diet, or parliament, approves them, Japan's armed forces will be free to operate outside their borders for the first time since the end of World War II.