Takakage Fujita, the secretary-general of the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement, reads out a statement demanding Takaichi withdraw her comments at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, December 8, 2025. Photo: Xinhua

About a week after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's second cabinet was formed, a renowned Japanese group - the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement - inviting prominent Japanese scholars, university professors and former politicians, held on Thursday in Tokyo a symposium aimed at confronting Japan's dangerous politics, vowing to never let the country initiate a war again, demanding Takaichi apologize and retract her erroneous remarks on the Taiwan question, and highlighting the deep-rooted collusion between the Takaichi cabinet and the controversial Unification Church, the Global Times learnt from the association on Thursday.

Given that the Takaichi administration continues to provoke China on East China Sea and South China Sea issues as well as the Taiwan question, Takakage Fujita, secretary-general of the association, in an exclusive interview with the Global Times on Thursday, condemned the Takaichi administration for causing China-Japan relations to deteriorate to their worst level while continuing to adopt an increasingly foolish posture of following the US, which will not serve Japan's true interests.

To confront the dangerous trend in the Takaichi administration, the association has held multiple relevant assemblies and symposiums in recent months. This time, the 18th themed symposium held on Thursday in Tokyo invited Kumiko Haba, a Japanese professor of international politics at Aoyama Gakuin University, and Atsuo Nakamura, former House of Councillors member, and other prominent scholars and lawyers as guest speakers, disclosing the ugly collusion between the Takaichi administration and the controversial Unification Church, and highlighting Takaichi's erroneous words and deeds and their international impact.

According to the handout of Haba's speech at the symposium sent to the Global Times, Haba said that Takaichi and her LDP victory in the recent election was about "crushing the left and crushing peace." The scholar noted that "Even opposing war, advocating friendship with neighboring countries, or speaking of peace could now brand one as anti-government."  

Haba stressed that Japan should create conditions preventing war with neighbors and build mutual trust via repeated dialogue and exchange.

Thursday marks the 90th anniversary of the February 26 Incident in 1936, an internal conflict in Japan between the Kodo faction and the Tosei faction within the military that led to the establishment of a fascist system from top to bottom in the country, known as the "state of enhanced national defense." Fujita shared with the Global Times his views on the lesson that modern Japan should learn from this incident.

"Japan, especially since the former Abe administration, has continuously and significantly expanded its defense budget by uncritically accepting US demands and pressure," Fujita said.

In recent years, particularly under the Takaichi administration, following US policy, Japan has been forcibly constructing numerous missile bases targeting China across the islands from Okinawa to Kyushu, disregarding resident opposition. Such foolish war preparations must never be allowed, Fujita said.

He emphasized that "the greatest challenge for the Japanese people is to resolutely prevent a modern version of Japanese-style fascism."