Jiang Bin Photo: China's Ministry of National Defense

In response to recent media disclosures that the draft of the Sanae Takaichi administration's first Defense White Paper claims that China's activities in the Pacific pose a "security threat" and expresses vigilance against China, and to the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary's assertion that Japan's exclusively defense-oriented policy remains unchanged and therefore China's criticism of neo-militarism is completely off the mark, Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Jiang Bin said on Thursday that what Japan does contradicts what it says, and the more it tries to whitewash the inconsistency, the more obvious it gets.

Jiang said that in recent years, the Japanese government has sharply hiked its defense budget, developed and deployed offensive weapons, eased restrictions on exporting lethal weapons, pushed to revise the "pacifist Constitution", clamored to be a war-capable nation, and even touted abandoning the three non-nuclear principles. 

If these actions still qualify as "exclusively defense-oriented", then there would be no such word as offensive in dictionary, Jiang added.

The spokesperson said Japanese militarism once brought catastrophic disasters to the world and to Japan itself, and that now the gray rhino of a remilitarized Japan is gathering speed, causing inevitable concerns and alarming many countries. 

The international community must see through Japan's "deceptive diplomacy" and "victim portrait", and work together to contain Japan's neo-militarism and safeguard peace and stability in the region and beyond, Jiang said.



Global Times