Chinese Embassy in UK@ChineseEmbinUK
CGTN: We’ve noted an alarming surge of neo-militarism in Japan over the recent month: A sitting SDF officer broke into the Chinese embassy in Japan carrying a knife; a Japanese destroyer transited the Taiwan Strait; the SDF for the first time officially participated in the joint military drill between the U.S. and the Philippines; the Japanese cabinet greatly eased controls on weapons export; and Sanae Takaichi sent ritual and cash offerings to the Yasukuni war shrine in two consecutive days. In a recent online survey among respondents worldwide, 82.5 percent said the Japanese right-wing’s remilitarization move has basically the same expansionist logic of Japanese militarism before World War II, and it would lead Japan into a really dangerous situation again. Do you have any comment on that?
Guo Jiakun: This once again shows that the rampant and dangerous spread of neo-militarism in Japan is already a reality and poses real threats.
Back in history, Japanese militarists have waged wars of aggression by fabricating “external threats,” stoking up nationalist sensation, and kidnapping state power. During the aggression, they committed horrendous crimes and brought profound sufferings to the people in the Asia Pacific. Today, rather than deeply reflecting on their history of aggression, Japanese right-wing forces have pushed for more offensive and expansionist defense policies and attempted to accelerate Japan’s remilitarization by rehabilitating its military-industrial complex.
Besides, Japan has been lobbying around, peddling narratives with distorted facts in an attempt to prop up Japan’s image as a “peace-loving country”, which is already in tatters. However, the world is not easily beguiled. When a country seeks to revise its pacifist Constitution, eases restrictions on export of lethal weapons, deploys offensive missiles, and significantly increases military expenditure, its real intention is to pave the way for military expansion, no matter what it says. Japan has also been interacting frequently with NATO, in an effort to bring the non-regional military organization into the Asia Pacific. Its agenda of provoking confrontation is as clear as day.
The lessons of that dark history not far away must be remembered. Countries in the region including China must stay on high alert and jointly defend the outcomes of the victory of WWII. We must not allow Japanese militarism to be revived. We must not allow the tragedies of history to be repeated. We must not allow anyone or any force to undermine peace and sow disaster in our region.