China warns against Japan raising defense spending

China expressed serious concern on Friday over calls by Japanese right-wing forces to further raise the country's defense spending, warning that Japan is stripping away the disguise of a so-called "peaceful country" and moving step by step down a path of neo-militarism.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun made the remarks when asked to comment on reports that Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has proposed a draft recommendation calling for a higher defense spending target, citing as a reference some countries whose defense expenditures account for 3 percent to 3.5 percent of their GDP. The defense-related sales of major Japanese military contractors have also risen sharply in recent years.

Guo said the latest figures show that Japan's defense spending rose by 9.7 percent in 2025, hitting record highs both in absolute terms and as a share of its GDP. Japan's arms imports also increased by 76 percent over the past five years, he added.

Against the backdrop of 14 consecutive years of military spending increases, Japanese right-wing forces are still agitating for higher defense expenditures, Guo said, adding that this illustrates how Japan is, layer by layer, peeling away the disguise of its so-called "peaceful country" image.

Guo noted that a series of documents with the full force of international law, including the Potsdam Proclamation and Japan's Instrument of Surrender, clearly stipulate that Japan should be completely disarmed and should not maintain industries that could enable it to rearm for war.

Japan's postwar Constitution, he added, imposes strict limits on the country's military forces, right of belligerency, and right to wage war. Through a series of related laws and regulations, Japan also established the principle of an exclusively defense-oriented policy.

Guo said the "military-industrial complex" was historically one of the key forces that hijacked Japan's national course and pushed the country toward expansion and aggression.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific should remain highly vigilant, firmly oppose Japan's reckless moves toward neo-militarism, and jointly safeguard the region's peaceful order, he said.