Japan should not go further and further on the road of military expansion (bell)

　　If Japan is obsessed with seeking personal gain by intensifying regional tensions, it is tantamount to finding chestnuts in the fire. Instead of getting the so-called "strategic freedom" and "great power status", it will bite itself and bring unbearable consequences to Japan.

　　Recently, Japan has been making mistakes in damaging its relations with its neighbors. The foreign ministers’ meeting of the Group of Seven hosted by Japan issued a so-called joint statement, which grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs, maliciously discredited and attacked China, and exposed the sinister intention of opposing China and containing China. Japanese politicians continue to throw out false remarks on the Taiwan Province issue concerning the post-war international order arrangement. Japan’s words and deeds are short-sighted in strategy, wrong in politics and unwise in diplomacy, which will only make regional countries more alert to Japan’s strategic direction.

　　As a member of Asia, Japan has frequently "lured wolves into the room" in recent years, and its foreign strategy is undergoing dangerous changes. Against the background that the United States declared to "shape the strategic environment around China", Japan accelerated the adjustment of its diplomatic security policy. In December last year, Japan formally adopted three new security policy documents: National Security Assurance Strategy, National Defense Strategy and Defence Force Maintenance Plan, claiming that Japan should have "counterattack capability", that is, "attack capability against enemy bases". According to these three documents, Japan will greatly strengthen its defense forces, and plans to increase its defense expenditure from fiscal year 2023 to 2027 to 1.6 times that of fiscal year 2019 to 2023. By fiscal year 2027, Japan’s defense expenditure will reach 2% of its GDP. This means that Japan, which once launched a war of militaristic aggression, completely abandoned the principle of "exclusively defending itself" and completely deviated from the peace concept of the Japanese Constitution. Yan Haohou, an honorary professor at Yamaguchi University in Japan, pointed out that this will undoubtedly bring great threats to East Asian countries and is a kind of "new militarism".

　　Japan has also positioned China as the so-called "biggest strategic challenge to date", turned black and white on Taiwan Province, Diaoyu Island, South China Sea and other issues, and played up the "China threat theory", using this as an excuse to step up the breakthrough of the post-war system and go further and further on the road of military expansion. Since the beginning of this year, Japan has been expanding its armaments: the total defense expenditure in fiscal year 2023 has increased by 26% compared with the previous fiscal year, and it has announced the construction of a new missile force with a strike capability of 1,000 kilometers, and clearly defined the timetable for deploying hypersonic weapons and developing submarine-launched hypersonic missiles with a range of 3,000 kilometers … … Japan, which uses "peripheral security threats" as an excuse to push forward its military breakthrough, is creating a real threat to regional security. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun quoted Masayuki Sakata, former director of the Legislative Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Cabinet, as saying that Japan began to possess offensive weapons but insisted that it was still a "peaceful country", which was inconsistent in words and deeds.

　　In order to promote its own military loosening, Japan has continuously raised the position of the US-Japan alliance in its foreign strategy. Japan thinks that it can engage in speculation in the US "Indo-Pacific Strategy" and even cooperate with the United States to introduce NATO into the Asia-Pacific region, which is a serious strategic loss. History has long made it clear that the United States will always sit in the driver’s seat of the chariot of the US-Japan alliance, and the starting point for the United States to handle relations with Japan will always be to safeguard its hegemonic interests. Japan once had a painful experience in the harm of American hegemony. The United States has launched seven trade and financial wars against Japan, including textile war, steel war, color TV war, automobile war, exchange rate war, semiconductor war and systematic reform of the United States against Japan. In September 1985, the United States forced Japan to sign the Plaza Agreement, which was regarded as a turning point for Japan to enter the "lost thirty years". In 1986 and 1991, the United States and Japan signed the Semiconductor Agreement twice. After the agreement period ended, American semiconductors expanded to about 30% in the global and Japanese markets. In recent years, the United States not only imposed import tariffs on steel, aluminum and beef on Japan, but also declared Toyota a "US security threat". This shows that although Japan is an ally of the United States, as long as it moves the cake of American interests, it cannot escape the extreme suppression of the United States.

　　Looking back at history, Japan has been immersed in the so-called dream of "leaving Asia and entering Europe" for a long time, and finally embarked on the wrong path of militarism, causing profound disasters to the people of regional countries and unbearable consequences to the Japanese people. At present, countries in the region are generally worried that Japan’s military expansion may repeat the historical mistakes. Sino-Japanese relations are vital to regional peace and stability and Japan’s own development. However, some forces in Japan have followed suit against the wrong US policy toward China and cooperated with the US to provoke troubles on issues involving China’s core interests, seriously undermining the political foundation of Sino-Japanese relations and the basic credibility of exchanges between the two countries. On April 24th and 25th, the delegation of Okinawa parliamentarians submitted a resolution on peaceful diplomacy adopted by the Okinawa Parliament to the Japanese Defense Ministry, the Cabinet Office of Japan and the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The resolution openly questioned the new version of the "Three Security Documents" adopted by Japan, and asked the Japanese government to follow the principles confirmed in relevant political documents with China, develop friendly relations between the two countries, and actively play the role of diplomacy and dialogue to build peace. The Japanese government should listen carefully to the voices of peace and justice in all aspects.

　　In the face of the international situation intertwined with chaos and the plot of foreign hegemonic countries to make waves in the region, Japan should deeply think about what is the real national interest and what is the truly favorable road to national development. If Japan is obsessed with seeking personal gain by intensifying regional tensions, it is tantamount to picking chestnuts from the fire. Instead of getting the so-called "strategic freedom" and "great power status", it will bite itself and bring unbearable consequences to Japan. Japan can win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community only by correcting its historical cognition, reflecting on itself, being cautious in words and deeds, and adhering to the path of peaceful development.