China criticizes Japan's record defense budget plan

Japan's new defense budget plan reveals the sinister intentions of Japan's right-wing forces to push for the country's remilitarization and resurrect militarism, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Friday.

Lin made the remarks at a regular news briefing when asked to comment on Japan's approval of its record defense budget plan exceeding 9 trillion yen (about $58 billion) for fiscal 2026.

"Despite the international community's continuous criticism over Japan's military and security moves, Japan plans to substantially increase its defense budget once again instead of reflecting on its actions and exercising restraint," Lin said.

Given the Japanese militarists' innumerable war crimes, Japan's military and security moves have always been closely watched by its Asian neighbors and the international community. However, since the new Japanese government took office, it has been notably accelerating military buildup, Lin said.

Japan is deviating further and further away from the path of peaceful development and moving in a dangerous direction, as evidenced by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks on China's Taiwan region, which threaten the use of force against China, the remarks of a senior official of Takaichi's office calling for Japan's possession of nuclear weapons, the proposed revision of the three national security documents and the idea of altering the three non-nuclear principles, Lin said.

In recent years, Japan has removed the ban on exercising the right to collective self-defense, developed the so-called "capability to strike enemy bases," strengthened cooperation on extended deterrence, and built its frontier islands into front lines, which clearly goes beyond Japan's "exclusively defense-oriented" policy, he said.

Terms such as "self-defense" and "counterstrike" are used by Japanese right-wing forces to gloss over their attempt to breach the post-WWII international order and stipulations in Japan's Constitution, and deceive and stoke public opinion, Lin said, adding that these moves have put the international community on high alert.

Noting that the Japanese people are also victims of militarism, Lin said some in Japan pointed out that raising defense spending does not bring peace and stability.

Rallies have been held across Japan in strong protest of the Japanese government's military expansion while some scholars also note that the defense budget hike will weigh heavily on Japan's economy and eventually be borne by the ordinary people in Japan, he said.

"China will work with all peace-loving countries to push back any dangerous move designed to resurrect militarism or cultivate neo-militarism, and jointly defend the outcomes of WWII victory," the spokesperson said.