Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun

The latest data shows that Japan's defense spending in 2025 increased by 9.7 percent, with both the total amount and its share of GDP reaching record highs, while arms imports surged 76 percent over the past five years. Despite defense spending having risen for 14 consecutive years, right-wing forces in Japan are still clamoring for further increases in military expenditure. This once again shows that Japan is peeling away the disguise of its so-called "peaceful nation" layer by layer and steadily moving down the wrong path of "neo-militarism," Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a regular press conference on Friday.

Guo's remarks were made when asked to comment on reports that Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has proposed a draft recommendation calling for higher defense spending targets, citing countries whose defense expenditures account for 3 to 3.5 percent of GDP as references, while Japan only surpassed the 2 percent threshold last year. Meanwhile, sales revenue from defense related businesses among Japan's major military industrial companies has also risen sharply in recent years.

Guo said that a series of documents with full force under international law, including the Potsdam Declaration and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, clearly stipulated that Japan must be "completely disarmed" and must not maintain industries which would re-arm it for war. 

Japan's Constitution also made strict restrictions on the country's military forces, the right of belligerency and the right to war, while a series of related laws established principles such as "exclusively defense-oriented policy."

The military-industrial complex was one of the key driving forces behind Japanese militarism's hijacking of the state and its path toward expansion and aggression in history, Guo said.

"Today, however, right-wing forces in Japan are pushing for surging defense spending and loosening restrictions on exports of lethal weapons, once again supporting the development of the military industry, and even attempting to turn it into an economic pillar to facilitate military expansion and war preparations and serve the process of remilitarization," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson urged Asia-Pacific countries to remain highly vigilant against and firmly oppose Japan's reckless moves toward "neo-militarism," and jointly safeguard peace and order in the Asia-Pacific region.


Global Times