“Is Japan’s militarist past returning? Is Japan speeding down the path of ‘remilitarization’? Could Japan once again become the bane of East Asia?”
This was the stark question posed by Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Tuesday, as China leveled a fierce warning against Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s accelerating military agenda, including revising Japan’s core security documents, reviving its military-industrial complex, and openly declaring it is making preparations for “protracted warfare.”
Speaking at a press briefing in Beijing, Lin Jian slammed the Takaichi administration’s shifting security posture as dangerous, adventurist and provocative.
Many with insights suggest that recent rhetoric of certain Japanese officials sound rather like war propaganda and remind people of wartime Japanese militarists, Lin said.
Takaichi claimed on Monday that lessons should be drawn from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the situation in the Middle East to prepare for “new forms of warfare” and protracted warfare, while advancing maritime security capabilities, cybersecurity and economic security.
Meanwhile, China also issued a fierce condemnation on Tuesday after a mass delegation of 166 Japanese lawmakers visited the notorious Yasukuni Shrine. The group, which drew immediate ire from China, included members of the ruling coalition and the conservative wing of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Lin called the notorious Yasukuni Shrine a spiritual tool and symbol of Japanese militarists’ war of aggression and, in fact, “a shrine for war criminals.”
“These Japanese politicians seek to reverse the just verdict on Japanese aggression, and hereby whitewash Japan’s war crimes and revive militarism. The Chinese people and people elsewhere who suffered under Japanese aggression will never accept that, neither will anyone in the world who stand for peace,” he said.
A series of strong rebuttals
For many Chinese experts, the rhetoric emanating from some Japanese politicians today carries a disturbing echo of WWII militarism. Both rely on a shared tactic: invoking an existential “survival crisis” to justify rapid military expansion and regional confrontation.
In 1931, the Japanese aggressors regarded the question of whether they could seize “Manchuria” as “a matter threatening Japan’s very survival,” and brazenly launched the September 18 Incident, subsequently occupying Northeast China. Similarly, the Takaichi administration today is cultivating its own climate of fear, Xiang Haoyu, a distinguished Research Fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
By hyping the “China threat” and insisting that “a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency,” Tokyo is reviving a historic playbook — manufacturing an external crisis to distract from domestic pressures and forge public consensus for a military buildup, he noted.
Global Times reporters noticed that since April 20, amid seven regular press conferences, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokespersons have rebutted negative moves by the Japanese government on five occasions.
For some time, various moves by the Japanese government, such as pushing for constitutional revision, establishing a “national intelligence committee” and easing restrictions on arms exports have sparked public concern.
In another move that shows the revival of Japanese militarism, the Japanese government is reportedly moving closer toward changing the rank titles of Self-Defense Force (SDF) officers to resemble those of a military.
Behind the Takaichi administration’s recent flurry of provocations lies a deeper domestic transformation. A Chinese scholar argues that Tokyo’s latest maneuvers — ranging from historical revisionism to a rapid push for “remilitarization” — are clear indicators of a broader rightward tilt currently sweeping through Japan’s political climate.
As a representative figure of Japan’s right-wing political forces, Takaichi holds an assertive ideology. After taking office, she has been eager to advance a right-wing political agenda, with the core aim of breaking free as quickly as possible from the constraints of Japan’s postwar system, Xiang said.
“In doing so, she is seen as attempting to move beyond Japan’s identity as a defeated World War II nation and, under the banner of so-called ‘national normalization,’ push forward the country’s transformation into a military power,” Xiang said.
Prevent the revival of militarism
Some international media outlets also shed light on China’s strong rebuttal toward Japan in security issues.
Reuters said in a report on Monday that China denounced remarks by Japan and the European Union about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Straits and planning military expansion.
China’s deputy UN ambassador Sun Lei called the Japanese remarks “unwarranted,” saying they “completely confound black and white.” He added that the EU representative should “refrain from issuing unsubstantiated and irresponsible remarks on the South China Sea issue.”
As Takaichi reportedly prepares to visit Australia, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) published an article titled “Japan’s hawkish PM could drag Australia into conflict with China” on Monday.
The piece poses a sharp question to Canberra: “Has Canberra fully thought through the implications of its burgeoning defense links with Tokyo?”
“When Japan’s Mitsubishi ‘Zero’ fighter jet took to the skies in the early 1940s, it quickly gained a reputation as lethal in dogfights thanks to its agility and speed,” Bloomberg reported, adding that eight decades after Japan enshrined a commitment to pacifism in its post-WWII constitution, Takaichi is on a mission to revive Japan’s defense industry.
Ironically, the Zero is the Allies’ main opponent in the Pacific air war. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, over 100 Zeros participated in the attack.
Some Western countries have taken a tolerant, or even turning-a-blind-eye approach toward Japan’s moves that carry certain militaristic tendencies, and have, to some extent, encouraged Japan to adopt more radical actions in the military and security fields, Lü Chao, a professor at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday. This has also become an important external factor behind the resurgence of right-wing forces in Japan, he said.
“Against this backdrop, China’s stance stands all the more commendable. As the primary victim of Japanese aggression in history, China’s consistent condemnation of the neo‑militarist moves of the Takaichi administration carries profound historical significance, which is that China, together with all other peace‑loving nations, never allow the specter of militarism to resurface once again from the Japanese archipelago and endanger the whole of East Asia,” Lü said.