ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the traditional security, which emphasizes instead the recalibration of risks to Japanese security focusing on risks that are not primarily constructed as physical threats. It concentrates on the discursive construction of potential risks to non-material security issues. The chapter argues that China's rise as the main impetus of change not only expands China's economic and political influence on the international community. It defines the concept of ontological security in International Relations, IR theory and its significance for Sino-Japanese relations. The chapter then shows the essential distinction between Japan and China as it was constructed by Japanese foreign policy decision-makers before the 'rise of China' started in 1992. It also focuses on the construction of the 'self' and 'other' of Japan's foreign policy decision-makers after 1992 and the changes both constructions have undergone. China's development, hence, directly poses risks to Japan's ontological security towards China.
