(ECNS) — The international community must stay on high alert about the dangerous trend of Japan “remilitarizing” itself faster, which is bound to undermine regional peace and stability, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning at a regular press conference on Tuesday.
It’s reported that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi noted at a New Year’s press conference that to respond appropriately to the rapid changes in the security environment and with strong determination to protect Japan’s independence and peace as well as the lives and livelihood of the Japanese people, the country will proceed with discussions to revise the three national security documents by the end of this year.
According to Japanese media reports, major adjustments to the three national security documents include increasing defense spending, revising the three non-nuclear principles, lifting restrictions on arms export and developing offensive military capability.
In response, Mao said with the aim of preventing the revival of Japanese militarism, a series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, clearly require Japan to be “completely disarmed” and not to maintain such industries as “would enable her to re-arm for war.” Japan’s Constitution also made strict restrictions on the country’s military forces, the right of belligerency and the right to war.
However, she added, in recent years, right-wing forces in Japan have been expediting military buildup and gradually breaking free from postwar norms such as the exclusively defense-oriented principle and a series of international rules, which constitutes a challenge to the postwar international order. The right-wing forces time and again used disguises and fabricated false narratives, and kept shifting focus, provoking its neighbors, creating troubles and stirring up tensions. They even pretended to be “threatened” and caught in a dead end.
“In fact, they are using “survival” and “defense” as an excuse to tie the Japanese people to the war chariot to serve their hidden agenda. What’s the difference between their practice and what the Japanese militarists did in the last century?” Mao said.
The spokesperson said the painful lessons of history remind us that the Japanese right-wing forces’ “remilitarization” attempt has posed a threat to regional and world peace and tranquility. China and all peace-loving countries and people in the world should never allow Japanese right-wing forces to turn back the wheel of history or allow the revival of militarism.
(By Evelyn)
