Japan’s drive seen as endangering region and affecting global stability

China’s diplomacy and defense authorities have spoken out to slam Japan’s “dangerous” military, espionage and nuclear policy drives that have reminded other Asian countries of its atrocities over 80 years ago during World War II.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian warned on April 30 that Japan’s neo-militarism is “becoming a serious concern” and that it “has posed a clear threat to world peace and stability”.

Lin was responding to Japan’s latest legislative drive to restore the military ranks used by the Imperial Japanese Army prior to the end of World War II.

According to Japanese media reports, the country has finalized a plan to revise the titles of Self-Defense Forces officers and plans to submit a draft amendment to the national parliament within the year.

The reports also noted that senior government officials described the move as aimed at “creating a work environment that fosters a sense of honor” to attract and retain talent.

Lin said this “amounts to a breakthrough at both institutional and cognitive levels”, and “is tantamount to rubbing salt into the wounds of the people of the victimized nations”.

He noted that after World War II, Japan disbanded its military as a defeated country, and when the Japan Self-Defense Forces were established in 1954, the titles from the former military were abolished.

“The forces of justice in the international community, including the Chinese people, should remain highly vigilant about this, resolutely defend the outcomes of the victory in World War II, and ensure that the tragedies of history are not repeated,” Lin said.

On April 28, the Japanese government revised the operational guidelines for the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology and scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports.

In the previous week, the Japanese Diet, or parliament, passed a bill establishing the National Intelligence Council.

In response, China’s National Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said at a news conference on April 30 that Japan is “racing headlong” down the path of remilitarization.

“Japan’s recent frequent dangerous and rash advances, testing and provocative moves in the military and security fields have directly debunked its self-proclaimed labels of a ‘peace-loving nation’ and a country committed to ‘exclusive defense’,” Zhang said.

The planned National Intelligence Council reminds people of the notorious Special Higher Police, Japan’s brutal policing and espionage organization torturing people during the war, he said.

This “seriously offends the sentiments of the people of Asian countries”, Zhang said, adding: “All peace-loving people must remain highly vigilant against this, resolutely curb Japan’s retrograde actions, and absolutely not allow it to undermine peace and wreak havoc on the world.”

Also on April 30, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a working paper regarding Japan’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In the document, China called on countries that have signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to “remain highly vigilant and firmly oppose Japan’s possessing nuclear weapons”.

The paper urged the countries to “carefully consider Japan’s strong motivation to acquire nuclear weapons and other related developments, exercise caution in nuclear cooperation with Japan, and effectively safeguard the international nuclear nonproliferation regime”.

In the document published on the Foreign Ministry’s website, Beijing urged Tokyo not to seek nuclear weapons in any form, not to develop nuclear submarines, and not to seek to introduce or deploy nuclear weapons within Japan.

The document urged the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to attach great importance to Japan’s dangerous tendency to seek nuclear weapons, and its immediate and long-term negative effect on the treaty.

Contact the writers at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn