Japan's neo-militarism threatens regional peace and stability

Recent developments indicate that Japan is increasingly pursuing neo-militarism and even harbors nuclear ambitions. The country's military-industrial complex poses escalating dangers to regional peace and stability.

Before World War II, Japan aggressively sought military supremacy and expansion, causing immense suffering to its neighbors. Following its defeat in the war, Japan did not fully eliminate militarism, opting instead to serve as a Cold War "bastion", which led to prolonged tensions with China and other neighboring countries.

It wasn't until the 1970s, driven by events such as the "Nixon shock", that Japan began to shift its policies, paving the way for the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations.

This change significantly enhanced the regional strategic environment and fostered conditions for peace and development in Asia. Japan therefore got a crucial opportunity to build relationships of mutual trust and benefit with its neighbors, promoting sound development of itself.

However, after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, driven by the ambition to become a major power, Japan sought to break free from the postwar constraints and redefine itself as a "normal country".

The remnants of militarism resurfaced in new forms. By highlighting Tokyo's contributions to the US-Japan security alliance and championing "proactive contribution to peace" under various pretexts to defend "a favorable international order", these forces once again coalesced into disruptive neo-militarism.

As a result, tensions between Japan and its neighbors over historical perceptions, territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests, and geopolitics have intensified.

Tokyo has slyly exploited these issues, even the trajectory of global development, to justify its neo-militarism.

After the Ukraine crisis, Japan drew false parallels with East Asia and labeled China as its "greatest strategic challenge".

Using this pretext, it lifted restrictions on preemptive strike capabilities, accelerated plans for external intervention, and obstinately pushed forward its economic security strategy to ally with partners and contain its neighbors, revealing its intent to stoke a new Cold War.

Since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office in October 2025, the Japanese government has accelerated constitutional revisions, military expansion, alliance-building, and arms sales. Japan has openly linked the so-called "survival-threatening crisis" to China's Taiwan island, pushing neo-militarism into a new phase of war blackmail against its neighbor.

These actions demonstrate that Japan's neo-militarism poses an imminent threat to regional security. The domestic political climate in the country is severely imbalanced, lacking effective resistance to neo-militarism, let alone the will to reverse the course.

Right-wing hawkish forces, military establishments, defense contractors such as Mitsubishi and Kawasaki, and research institutions such as the National Institute for Defense Studies have accelerated the formation of a military-industrial complex with intertwined interests and collusive profit-sharing — the core driver of neo-militarism.

Together, these forces have hijacked Japan's development path. Military establishments manufacture threats and stoke anxiety to seize power and profit, while right-wing hawks position the defense industry as an economic pillar, driving up military spending and profits from arms orders.

Industries, academia, and research sectors, motivated by profit, engage in the R&D and production of dual-use items. Japan's politics, economy, and society are being pulled into a self-reinforcing war system.

Japan's development of offensive weapons, lifting of restrictions on lethal arms exports, military agreements with certain countries and joint military capacity-building in sensitive regions disrupt the regional strategic balance and heighten tensions.

Coupled with its strategy of "making distant allies while confronting neighbors", these actions increase the risk of weapons proliferation and threaten regional peace and stability.

At the same time, Tokyo is accelerating changes to the country's pacifist constitution, hollowing out the principle of "exclusively defense-oriented" policy, and testing the boundaries of its "three non-nuclear principles". By strengthening foreign intelligence infiltration and expanding overseas military activities, Japan seeks to enhance its military deterrence and intervention.

The international consensus that Japan must never repeat the mistakes of war is being challenged, and the international order centered on the United Nations has been severely undermined.

In response to this growing militarist threat, China's Ministry of Commerce has legitimately placed 20 Japanese entities under export control for dual-use items and 20 on a watch list.

The ban targets exports of dual-use items to Japanese military end-users, for military purposes, and to end-users helping enhance Japan's military capabilities.

By targeting the root cause, this measure aims to curb Japan's reckless pursuit of neo-militarism and its nuclear ambitions. These restrictions apply only to a few Japanese entities and focus solely on dual-use items, leaving normal economic and trade exchanges between the two countries unaffected. Businesses that are compliant with the law will not be impacted.

Tokyo should realize that a beggar-thy-neighbor approach will ultimately undermine its own future, as good-neighborly relations are essential for Japan's sustainable development.

As Japan's important neighbor, the largest trading partner and largest source of imports, China is of great significance to the country's stability, economic revitalization, and regional cooperation.

The current difficulties in bilateral relations arise from Japan pushing its neo-militarist agenda and its erroneous words concerning China's Taiwan island.

History has shown that arms expansion and war preparation ultimately backfire. Tokyo's effort to position the military industry as an economic pillar is a ruinous stopgap.

Entrusting the nation's destiny to the military-industrial complex driving neo-militarism could be disastrous for the nation's future.

The author is an associate professor at the National Defense University, the People's Liberation Army.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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