Advertisement
China-Japan relations
ChinaDiplomacy

China’s military paper slams Japanese defence and Taiwan policies as Tokyo marks 78th year of WWII surrender

  • One of several critical commentaries in PLA Daily takes aim at Japan for pursuing ‘military expansionism’ and bloc politics
  • Article also slams Tokyo for following ‘some major power’ and having ‘stoked tensions in the Taiwan Strait’

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
9
People release doves during their visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on August 15, the 78th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Photo: Reuters
Jack Lau
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s official newspaper published several commentaries criticising Japan’s defence and Taiwan policies on Tuesday – the 78th anniversary of the unconditional Japanese surrender in World War II.

One of the articles in the PLA Daily accused Japan of posing a “serious challenge” to world peace by raising its defence budget and abandoning its “exclusively defence-oriented policy”, in a reference to Tokyo’s new national security strategy announced in December. The policy, adopted in 1954, requires Japan’s armed forces to be kept at a minimum for self-defence.

The PLA Daily commentary, titled “Steadfastly defend history that was written with blood and lives”, said Japan in recent years had “developed and advocated for the so-called ‘counter-attack capability’ and moved further down the path of military expansionism”, adding that Japan had followed “some major power” in bloc politics.

Japan has in recent years aligned more closely with the United States’ Indo-Pacific strategy, which Beijing says is aimed at containing China, and has also raised security concerns over the growing military cooperation between China and Russia.

In its latest annual defence white paper, released in July, Tokyo said Beijing presented an “unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge” and had continued to change the status quo in the East and South China seas by force, adding that the military balance between mainland China and Taiwan was rapidly “tilting to China’s favour”.

Japan should respond to the challenge with its “comprehensive national power” and cooperation with its allies, like-minded countries and others, the paper said.

It also said five ballistic missiles had landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone last August during major PLA drills around Taiwan.

Beijing has denied the allegation, citing the lack of agreement between the two sides on the boundaries of the Japanese EEZ in the East China Sea.
Advertisement