'Regional threats' pretext of Japan for military expansion

Japanese media recently disclosed a draft of the Sanae Takaichi administration's first Defense White Paper. The document exaggerates so-called security challenges arising from China's national development and deliberately portrays China's normal activities in the Pacific as "security threats."

Playing up so-called regional threats has long been a familiar tactic of Japanese militarism. The revival of this outdated narrative once again exposes the true intention of Japan's right-wing forces: accelerating military expansion and pushing for a comprehensive shift in security policy.

Using phrases such as "security threats," "vigilance," and "grave concern," the draft continues promoting the false narrative of "China threat."

China, however, has long valued peace. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country has been committed to the path of peaceful development, and followed a defensive national defense policy. It resolutely opposes all forms of hegemony, aggression, expansion, and arms race.

China maintains adequate defense expenditures solely to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests, as well as to preserve global peace. Japan's deliberate attempts to characterize this peaceful development-oriented nation as a rising "security threat" contradict objective reality and diverge from the collective shared aspirations of Asia-Pacific countries for peace, cooperation, and development.

A look at Japan's modern history lays bare a consistent pattern: every increase in Japan's defense budget since the 1960s, every attempt to break through the principle of exclusively defense-oriented policy, and every reinterpretation of the meaning of the so-called pacifist constitution has been preceded by the promotion of narratives about "regional threats."

A repeat of such tactics today is meant to drum up pretexts for constitutional amendments, military buildup ultimately clearing the way for Japan to cast off the institutional restraints imposed after World War II. Its push for full military normalization is growing ever more conspicuous.

In recent years, under the pretext of building so-called "counterstrike capabilities," Japan has introduced large quantities of offensive equipment exceeding legitimate self-defense needs. It has long maintained substantial stockpiles of sensitive nuclear materials, attempting to challenge the boundaries of its Three Non-Nuclear Principles and undermining the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Japan has continued expanding military spending, loosened restrictions on exports of lethal weapons, frequently participated in overseas joint military exercises, and accelerated the development of cyber and intelligence warfare capabilities.

Taken together, these steps are steering Japan steadily down the wrong path toward "neo- militarism."

Japan's continuing military expansion is already creating multiple impacts on the security landscape of Northeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific region.

At a plenary session of the Shangri-La Dialogue 2026, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi promoted a so-called updated vision for a "free and open Indo-Pacific," declaring that Japan would further strengthen defense capabilities, deepen security cooperation mechanisms with regional countries, and assume a "new role" in regional defense equipment and technological cooperation.

Analysts warn that such moves risk intensifying historical tensions and fueling regional arms race.

Eng Kok Thay, a secretary of state of Cambodia's Council of Ministers, argued that countries have reasons to question whether Japan's current security posture is genuinely driven by defensive needs or whether it reflects renewed ambitions for power projection.

Having never fully come to terms with its brutal militaristic past marked by wartime aggression, Japan's ongoing pursuit of enhanced offensive military capabilities naturally stokes unease among its neighboring states and fuels broader regional security concerns.

More concerning still is Japan's increasingly proactive integration into cross-regional military alliances. The country is artificially creating bloc confrontation, fragmenting regional cooperation frameworks, and posing serious threats to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific.

For decades, the Asia-Pacific region has remained one of the world's most vibrant economic hubs largely because regional countries have generally adhered to the principle of promoting development through cooperation and strengthening security through cooperation.

Today, amid growing international uncertainties and complexities, regional countries need more than ever to uphold vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, strengthen mutual trust through dialogue and consultation, and preserve stability through mutually beneficial cooperation, rather than artificially creating tensions and confrontation.

To secure its own long-term prosperity alongside regional peace, Japan's wisest course of action is to draw lasting lessons from its painful history of militaristic aggression. It must properly handle historical issues, and earn the trust of neighboring Asian countries and the international community through concrete, credible actions.

Only by doing so can Japan truly embark upon a development path aligned with both its own long-term interests and those of the region.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)