China has been urged to look for ways to mend ties with Japan and push forward three-way security talks involving Tokyo and Washington.
Zhang Tuosheng, director of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University, wrote in an academic journal that war must no longer be seen as a way to settle disputes.
"China and Japan should also consider jointly promoting the China-Japan-US trilateral security dialogue at an appropriate time, discussing many security issues ... to reduce misunderstandings and misjudgments," Zhang said.
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In the article, Zhang, a former instructor at the Military Academy of the People's Liberation Army, said the lack of crisis management could lead to a full military confrontation between China and the United States, which would in turn damage relations with Japan, a key US ally.
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The article was published in late December in the international relations journal China International Strategy Review.
China's relations with both the US and Japan have deteriorated in recent years amid tensions over issues such as the South China Sea, repeated Chinese air force sorties into Taiwan's air defence zone and tech and trade tensions.
Japan has responded by approving a record 5.4 trillion yen (US$47 billion) defence budget that includes funding for research and development into a new fighter jet and other "game-changing" weapons.
On Thursday, the United States and Japan agreed to deepen scientific cooperation on military technology, including defences against hypersonic weapons.
The announcement came as the two countries acknowledged the challenges posed by what they called China's efforts to "undermine the rules-based order" - ranging from its activities in the South China and East China Seas to alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
In a joint statement released following dialogue between the two countries' foreign and defence ministers they pledged to "work together to deter and, if necessary, respond to [China's] destabilising activities in the region".
Meanwhile the defensive pact signed by Japan and Australia this week, which for the first time set out a framework for cooperation in addressing "shared strategic security challenges", heaped further pressure on Beijing.