‘Serious challenge’ to peace: Chinese military paper slams Japan on WWII anniversary – South China Morning Post Feedzy

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.

The PLA Daily commentary also slammed Japan’s stance on Taiwan, which it ruled as a colonial power from 1895 to 1945.

Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but many oppose any attempt by Beijing to take the island by force.

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“Recently, certain Japanese politicians, despite China’s resolute opposition, insisted on visiting China’s Taiwan region and made a lot of remarks that stoked tensions in the Taiwan Strait and stirred confrontation,” the PLA Daily article said. “This is extremely wrong and dangerous.”

Another commentary on Tuesday said China’s victory over Japan in World War II had “reinstated China’s place in the world as a major power”. It had also paved the way to the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, the front-page article said, in a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s overarching political slogan.

“The great war of resistance against Japan has left a profound revelation: if you are underdeveloped, you will be beaten; only a strong army can make the country safe.”

Japan defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895, which led to Japanese control over Taiwan. It also invaded Manchuria in northeastern China in 1931, ahead of a full-blown Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945.

China describes these defeats as part of its “century of humiliation” – an impetus for Xi’s “national rejuvenation”.

Japan’s then emperor Hirohito announced that the country would surrender without condition on August 15, 1945 – days after the US atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the then Soviet Union’s declaration of war against Japan.

Chinese state media have traditionally used the anniversary of Japan’s surrender to criticise its defence policy and attitude towards its role in the second world war. This includes furious reactions to visits by Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo – a memorial to Japanese war dead that include war criminals from World War II.

The Chinese foreign ministry criticised Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for sending a ritual offering to the shrine on Tuesday as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has pushed to change the constitution to explicitly mention the right to self-defence.

The current Japanese constitution does not mention the Self-defence Force, saying only that Japan cannot maintain an army, navy, air force or “other forces”.

“The negative trend of Japanese politicians and dignitaries in relation to the Yasukuni Shrine once again reflects the wrong attitude of Japan on historical issues,” ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. “China has made serious representations to Japan and made its position clear.”

The Post has reached out to the Japanese embassy in Beijing for comment.