China deplores Japan's defense white paper

Japan's accelerating remilitarization has become a serious factor threatening regional peace and stability, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, urging the international community to stay on high alert and push back against the trend.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian made the remarks in response to the Defense of Japan 2026 white paper, which continues to trumpet the development of long-range offensive capabilities and new ways of warfare while even packaging Japan's rearmament as a growth driver.

All these moves once again expose the truth behind Japan's claim of being a "peaceful nation", Lin said in a statement released on the ministry's official website.

The white paper identifies China as Japan's "greatest strategic challenge" and presents defense investment as beneficial to the country's economy and society.

Citing what it describes as intensifying activities by the Chinese military in the region surrounding Japan, the document calls for a response drawing on Japan's comprehensive national power and cooperation with its ally, like-minded countries and others.

China deplores and firmly rejects the white paper and has lodged serious representations with Japan, Lin said.

Taiwan's status reaffirmed

The spokesman said that the document once again targets China with groundless accusations, rehashes the so-called "China threat" and grossly interferes in China's internal affairs with brazen comments on China's Taiwan region.

China is committed to peaceful development and a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, and its military activities are just and valid, Lin said.

"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. The Taiwan question is entirely China's internal affair. How to resolve it is a matter for the Chinese ourselves, and Japan is in no place to interfere," he said.

The Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islands have been China's territory since ancient times, and this fact will never change no matter what the Japanese side says or does, he added.

Noting that Japanese militarists once inflicted immense suffering on Asia and the world and committed untold crimes, Lin emphasized that Japan has not only failed to reflect on that history, but has also kept speeding up remilitarization, breaching its own Constitution and international and domestic laws and challenging the postwar international order.

"We urge Japan to deeply repent for its historical crimes, learn the lessons of history, stop cooking up justifications for its military buildup and step back from the wrong path," Lin said.

In recent years, Japan has accelerated its military buildup by increasing defense spending, acquiring long-range missiles and strengthening joint operations. In April, it revised its arms export rules to allow, in principle, the export of lethal weapons, while senior Japanese officials have also left open the possibility of reviewing the country's Three Non-Nuclear Principles.

The Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that these moves go beyond Japan's postwar exclusively defense-oriented policy and jeopardize regional peace and stability.

zhaojia@chinadaily.com.cn