China warns Japan on rising militarism

A Chinese defense spokesman on Thursday urged Japan to fully repent for its wartime atrocities and immediately halt "dangerous attempts" to revise its Constitution and expand its military.

Jiang Bin, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks at a regular news conference in Beijing in response to recent moves by Japan in the military and security fields.

"Any attempt to repeat the evil path of aggression and expansion and undermine the post-WWII international order will not succeed," he said.

Kyodo News reported last week that Japan had exported domestically produced Patriot surface-to-air missile interceptors to the United States, the first export of lethal weapons since Tokyo relaxed controls on arms exports.

Separately, The Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has begun discussions on revising the country's National Security Strategy and two other security documents. The review could include reconsidering the Three Non-Nuclear Principles — not possessing, producing or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons — as well as increasing defense spending.

Jiang noted that it is an "ironclad fact" that Japan was a defeated country in World War II, saying international treaties and instruments including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender clearly prohibit Japan from rearmament.

"The international community must be on high alert against Japan's revisionist attempts to break away from the restraints of its pacifist Constitution," he said.

He accused Japan of seeking to do so by brazenly expanding its military capabilities, drastically raising its defense budget, accelerating revisions to its security policies, loosening restrictions on weapons exports and attempting to roll back the Three Non-Nuclear Principles.

"Japan is even attempting to intervene militarily in the Taiwan question. These moves pose serious threats to regional peace and stability," Jiang said.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, he said.

"People around the world, especially those from China and other victimized countries in Asia, will never forget the catastrophe brought by Japanese fascists," Jiang said. "The specter of Japanese militarism must never be allowed to haunt the world again."