Chen Xi, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, speaks at a press briefing in Beijing, China, August 14, 2026. /China’s Ministry of National Defense
China’s Ministry of National Defense on Friday urged Japan to replicate on its wartime aggression and cease what it described as harmful acts of remilitarization, forward of the 81st anniversary of Japan’s announcement of unconditional give up in World War II.
Defense spokesperson Chen Xi made the remarks when requested to touch upon Japan’s upcoming protection funds request for fiscal yr 2027. The deliberate request totals round 8.9 trillion yen (about $55.9 billion), set to succeed in yet one more all-time excessive.Â
Chen recalled that 81 years in the past, struck exhausting by China and world anti-fascist forces, Japan introduced its unconditional give up. “Before that, Japanese militarists had plunged the whole Asia into an abyss of bloodshed and disaster,” he mentioned, citing atrocities just like the Nanjing Massacre, the Bataan Death March, and the Death Railway between Thailand and Myanmar. He added that these crimes inflicted untold sufferings on the peoples of different Asian nations and past, and even on the Japanese folks themselves.
Chen mentioned Japan had failed to actually draw classes from historical past after its defeat in World War II. It has lengthy condoned its right-wing forces whitewashing and denying crimes of aggression, sought each doable means to interrupt free from the pacifist Constitution and solely defense-oriented precept, and tried to problem the post-war worldwide order. As a outcome, Japan has turn out to be detrimental to regional peace and stability.
The spokesperson additionally criticized Japan’s latest strikes to considerably enhance its protection funds, rigorously develop offensive capabilities and aggressively increase its army business beneath the pretext of addressing so-called exterior threats. “Japan’s neo-militarism has laid bare its true ambition, and we must stay vigilant against the dangers posed by it,” he mentioned.
“Historical facts must not be forgotten, and justice and peace must not be compromised,” Chen mentioned. He urged Japan to earnestly replicate on itself, acknowledge and atone for its crimes, strictly adhere to the post-war worldwide order, and cease its harmful acts of remilitarization.
“Any return to the wrong path will bring a more crushing defeat and a more complete reckoning,” Chen added.
Source: CGTN