Japan's reckless remilitarization seriously threatens regional peace, stability: Chinese foreign ministry

BEIJING, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Japan's reckless remilitarization and repeated breach of its "exclusively defense-oriented" policy seriously threaten regional peace and stability, and challenge the postwar international order, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Thursday.

Photo: Chinese foreign ministry

Guo made the remarks at a regular press conference in response to a query about recent reports that the Japanese government is set to approve the updated three security documents in December. Sources said that Japan will continue to position China as its "greatest strategic challenge" in the updated documents, and will nearly double its defense spending over the next five years, with a total reaching 70 trillion to 80 trillion yen.

Noting that Japan's rapid push to revise the three security documents, boost military expenditure and develop offensive capabilities says a lot about its agenda to speed up remilitarization, Guo said that the so-called "greatest strategic challenge" is nothing but a pretext for Japan to engage in military expansion in the name of defense.

"We noted that within Japan there is a growing concern about the distortion of its orientation as a 'peace-loving nation' and the severe impact this has had on economy and people's livelihood," Guo said.

"Historically, the Japanese militarists committed horrendous crimes and inflicted immense suffering on people in the Asia Pacific and beyond. The lessons are still fresh and must not be forgotten," Guo added.

The international community must stay on high alert and jointly push back the dangerous tendency in Japan, the spokesperson said.