Japan warned to shun path of remilitarization

The Chinese Defense Ministry urged Japan on Thursday to abandon its dangerous path toward remilitarization, warning that the revival of Tokyo's military-industrial complex posed a significant threat to regional stability.

Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for the ministry, said at a regular media conference that Japan continues to portray itself internationally as a victim of nuclear bombings to mislead the international community, while in reality it seeks to replicate nuclear-sharing arrangements and introduce allied nuclear weapons into Japan.

He made the remarks in response to a recent draft proposal by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party to revise its three key national security documents, as well as the recent United States-Japan extended deterrence dialogue. The draft emphasizes strengthening the credibility of US "extended deterrence", with nuclear weapons at its core, and advocates for the development of next-generation submarines capable of launching long-range missiles.

Zhang said that such "extended deterrence" cooperation, a legacy of the Cold War, heightened the risks of nuclear proliferation and conflict.

He warned that Japan's nuclear ambitions are long-standing, with right-wing forces attempting to undermine the country's Three Non-Nuclear Principles.

"The Japanese nuclear issue has shifted from a potential concern to a real one," Zhang said, urging Tokyo to comply with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and calling on the US to stop provocative policies and to avoid undermining regional and global stability.

The spokesman also refuted recent remarks by Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi questioning the transparency of China's defense budget while claiming that Japan will invest in new operational capabilities, including drones and artificial intelligence, transparently.

In response, Zhang said China's defense spending is fully transparent, with detailed budget reports submitted annually to the United Nations since 2008. He said China's military expenditure remains low and restrained, consistently accounting for less than 1.5 percent of the GDP.

Japan's defense budget, in contrast, has increased for 14 consecutive years to 2 percent of its GDP, with per capita defense spending three times that of China, Zhang said.

He described Japanese accusations as a smokescreen designed to mislead public opinion and conceal its own military expansion.

"Japan owes the world a transparent explanation regarding where it is headed, as its expanding neo-militarism becomes an escalating threat," Zhang said.

Japanese official data shows that the country's domestic orders for weapons and equipment, such as surface-to-air missiles and aircraft, have grown significantly in recent years.

Zhang noted that Japan's military-industrial complex once served as the economic foundation of its wartime expansion during World War II. Postwar international documents, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, explicitly restricted Japan from maintaining industries that could enable rearmament.

"The rapid expansion of Japan's reactivated military-industrial complex will push the country further down the path of reckless remilitarization, ultimately endangering the Japanese people," Zhang said, calling on peace-loving people across the world to remain vigilant against the expansion of Japanese military capital and safeguard regional peace.

lishangyi@chinadaily.com.cn