At a regular press briefing, China’s Foreign Ministry responded to remarks made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during her New Year’s press conference, where she claimed that challenges to a free and open international order based on the rule of law are intensifying. Takaichi alleged that in the so-called “Indo-Pacific,” China and the DPRK are increasing their military power, while cooperation between China and Russia, as well as between Russia and the DPRK, has been strengthened. She further stated that Japan intends to push forward discussions aimed at revising its three national security documents by the end of this year in order to respond to rapid changes in the security environment and to safeguard Japan’s independence, peace, and the lives and livelihoods of its people.

Responding to these remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that according to Japanese media reports, the proposed adjustments to the three national security documents would include a significant increase in defense spending, revisions to the three non-nuclear principles, lifting restrictions on arms exports, and the development of offensive military capabilities. She stated that these moves reflect a dangerous acceleration of Japan’s remilitarization process, which is bound to undermine regional peace and stability, and warned that the international community must remain on high alert.

Mao Ning emphasized that, with the aim of preventing the revival of Japanese militarism, a series of international legal instruments with binding effect, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, explicitly require Japan to be completely disarmed and prohibit it from maintaining industries that would enable rearmament for war. She added that Japan’s own Constitution places strict limits on its military forces, the right of belligerency, and the right to wage war.

However, she noted that in recent years, right-wing forces in Japan have been expediting military buildup and gradually breaking away from postwar norms, including the exclusively defense-oriented principle and established international rules. According to Mao Ning, these actions constitute a direct challenge to the postwar international order.

The spokesperson further stated that Japanese right-wing forces have repeatedly used disguises and fabricated narratives, constantly shifting focus to provoke neighboring countries, create trouble, and stir up tensions. She said that these forces often portray Japan as being “threatened” or cornered, while in reality using so-called survival and defense arguments as an excuse to tie the Japanese people to what she described as a “war chariot” to serve hidden political agendas. Mao Ning questioned how such practices differ from those of Japanese militarists in the last century.

Concluding her remarks, Mao Ning said that the painful lessons of history clearly show that attempts by Japanese right-wing forces to pursue remilitarization pose a serious threat to regional and global peace and stability. She stressed that China and all peace-loving countries and peoples around the world should never allow these forces to turn back the wheel of history or permit the revival of militarism.