Abe Was a Very Thoughtful Person About Japan's National Identity

He has always believed in a strong japan and has been a proponent of a more assertive military role in statecraft. He saw the democratic val nos, the values of Japans democracy as being a counter to chinas more authoritarian tilt. So it wasn't necessarily that he wanted to exclude china, but he saw the value of a values base diplomacy as being one of Japan's greatest strengths.