Beijing sounds fresh warning as Tokyo pushes revision of key security-related documents

China has urged all peace-loving countries to remain highly vigilant and firmly resist Japan’s neo-militarist moves, after the latter took its latest step toward revising three key security-related documents as part of a broader push to accelerate its military buildup under the pretext of strengthening deterrence.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian made the remarks at a daily news briefing in Beijing on April 28, a day after Japan convened its first expert panel meeting to advance the revision of the documents, which are expected to be updated by the end of the year.

According to media reports, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the meeting that Japan should draw lessons from the Ukraine crisis and the conflict in the Middle East, adapt to “new forms of warfare”, including the use of drones, and prepare for a “prolonged emergency”.

Lin pointed out that Japan, which has launched wars and invaded other countries in the past, is now playing up so-called tensions. “Is Japan’s militarist past returning? Is Japan speeding down the path of ‘remilitarization’? Could Japan once again become the bane of East Asia?” the spokesman said.

Japan’s recent dangerous and provocative moves in the military and security fields — from its long-standing exclusively defense-oriented policy to its declaration to prepare for a long war — have dented its self-proclaimed image of being a peaceful country, Lin said.

He noted that Japanese militarism pursued rampant aggression and expansion in the past, committing heinous crimes against China and other Asian neighbors, while also inflicting deep suffering on the Japanese people.

Lin added that many insightful people have observed that recent remarks made by some Japanese politicians sound more like warmongering, closely resembling the rhetoric of Japanese militarists in the past.

To prevent the resurgence of Japanese militarism, a series of documents with full legal effect under international law — including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender — required Japan to remain “completely disarmed” and to not maintain industries that could allow its rearmament for war.

The Japanese Constitution also places strict limits on the country’s military capabilities, its right of belligerency and its right to wage war.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Tokyo trials, which held Japanese leaders accountable for war crimes committed during World War II.

Yet Japan has not only failed to seriously reflect on its past wars of aggression, but is also attempting to pursue military expansion, Lin said, adding that the international community will never allow that.

Also on April 28, China strongly deplored and condemned visits made to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine by members of the conservative Japanese solidarity association, a group of conservatives in Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and 166 Japanese national and local lawmakers.

Their visits follow Prime Minister Takaichi’s recent ritual and cash offerings to the shrine, which is a symbol of Japanese militarism and wartime aggression and honors Japanese militarists, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals.

Lin, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, denounced these moves, saying that they blatantly trample on historical justice and human conscience, as well as challenge the outcomes of World War II and the postwar international order.

Eighty years ago, the international community, with overwhelming ironclad evidence, made its final judgment on Japan’s crimes of aggression and passed sentences on Japanese Class-A war criminals, upheld the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and safeguarded international justice, Lin said.

However, some Japanese politicians and right-wing forces, instead of reflecting on history and correcting their wrongdoings, repeatedly visit the war shrine in an attempt to reverse the just verdict on Japan’s aggression, whitewash its war crimes and revive militarism, he said.

“The Chinese people and people elsewhere who suffered under Japanese aggression will never accept that; neither will anyone in the world who stands for peace,” Lin added.

Contact the writers at zhaojia@chinadaily.com.cn