Still not over World War II in many ways, China is on the lookout for any moves to introduce militaristic elements into Japan's Constitution after 60 years of peaceful foreign relations, according to Chinese scholars and media.

Japan advanced its economy to the top spot in Asia and gained the trust of former World War II enemies in Asia because its Constitution forbids military action abroad, the observers said.

So any effort by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party to strike the antiwar Article 9 from the Constitution will cause concern, they said.

"If Japan fully abandoned Article 9, no doubt that kind of new Japan would find it difficult to have more constructive relations with China, the Koreas and even the United States," said Pang Zhongying, head of the Nankai University Global Studies Institute.