China’s military mouthpiece has accused Japan of hollowing out its pacifist constitution and “embarking on the dangerous path of military expansion”.
As Japan marked the 80th anniversary of its surrender in World War II on Friday, the PLA Daily warned in a commentary that “the spectre of militarism has never left the Japanese archipelago”, and that right-wing forces had “never abandoned the dream of becoming a military power”.
It accused Tokyo of using American support to steadily roll back post-war restrictions and trigger “deep concern in the international community over the revival of militarism”.
The commentary coincided with Japanese Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary, the first confirmed visit by a cabinet member from Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration.
Such visits have consistently drawn sharp criticism from China and other Asian neighbours, which view the shrine as glorifying Japanese militarism and insulting the victims of Japan’s wartime aggression.
The commentary in the People’s Liberation Army’s newspaper also warned against Tokyo’s expanding defence partnerships, citing deeper US-Japan military integration, reciprocal access agreements with Australia, Britain and the Philippines, and growing engagement with Nato.
“Under the pretext of cooperation and exchange, Japan is using military linkages to build momentum for its own military development,” it said.
On Tuesday, the Philippines and Japan formally exchanged diplomatic notes to activate their reciprocal access agreement.
Set to take effect in September, the defence pact will allow the Japan Self-Defence Forces to deploy in the Philippines for joint exercises. It is Japan’s third such agreement, following similar pacts with Australia and Britain.
China’s state-run military newspaper said Japan had in recent years “substantially adjusted its post-war security policy from exclusive defence to pre-emptive strike”, citing moves to relax arms export restrictions and legalise overseas troop deployments.
In April 2014, the Japanese cabinet adopted the “Three Principles on Transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology”, easing restrictions on arms and technology exports and effectively ending the nearly 50-year-old “Three Principles on Arms Exports”.
In September 2015, the Japanese government passed new security laws despite a constitutional controversy, legalising its self-defence forces’ exercise of collective self-defence and overseas deployments.
In December 2022, Tokyo approved three new policy documents – the national security strategy, the national defence strategy and the defence build-up programme – emphasising the development of “counterstrike capabilities” against enemy bases.
The PLA Daily commentary also criticised Tokyo’s plan to raise defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by the 2027 financial year, breaking a long-standing 1 per cent ceiling. It accused Japan of “seeking offensive military capabilities”, such as hypersonic and ballistic missile technology, Tomahawk cruise missiles and expanded anti-ship missile deployments.
The article also referred to Japan’s expansion into new operational domains, including space, cyber and electronic warfare. It said these efforts, alongside integration with traditional land, sea and air forces, aimed to “empower conventional military strength and raise Japan’s overall combat power”.
Marking the anniversary of China’s victory in the war of resistance against Japan, the commentary concluded that Japan, as a defeated nation, “should take history as a mirror, abide by the pacifist constitution and truly achieve good-neighbourliness and peaceful development”.
It urged “all peace-loving people” to remain alert to any revival of militarism and “firmly safeguard the fruits of the second world war victory”.
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