Japan’s attempts to find an excuse to build up its own military power by inflating the Chinese threat will not succeed, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing on Wednesday.
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Japan’s Ministry of Defense plans to request a budget for the next fiscal year (April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024) of 5.595 trillion yen (about $41.4 billion), which will exceed this year’s spending and set a record. At the same time, the Kyodo agency previously reported that the Japanese government plans to abandon the use of the word “threat” in the updated national security strategy when describing the actions of the Chinese armed forces in favor of the wording “challenge for the international community.” According to the interlocutors of the agency, China’s missile launches in August this year, during which missiles fell inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, could be called a “threat” in the new strategy. However, this issue is still at the stage of agreement.
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“China has always been committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world, China is a partner and opportunity for the development of all countries,” Wang said.
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He noted that “Japan’s document on defense policy ignores the facts, is a departure from Japan’s commitments on bilateral relations and agreements between Beijing and Tokyo, baselessly denigrates China.”
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“China strongly opposes this and has always expressed its position to the Japanese side through diplomatic channels,” the diplomat said.
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He added that China and Japan are neighbors and important countries in the region, “maintaining and developing China-Japan friendship and cooperation is in line with the fundamental interests of the two states and their peoples.”
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“We once again urge Tokyo to strictly abide by the core principles of the four Sino-Japanese policy documents, truly treat each other as cooperation partners, and not threaten each other,” Wang said.
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The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed that “it is impossible to succeed by trying to find excuses to build up our own military power, inflating the threat of China.”
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The governing coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan and the Komeito party is ambivalent about how to characterize China in a document due before the end of the year. Back in April, representatives of the LDP put forward a proposal that Tokyo consider the military activities of the PRC as a “threat”, but Komeito has repeatedly expressed fears that such a categorical approach could lead to negative consequences for Japan-China relations, which are already significantly chilled.
