Eighty years after opening of Tokyo Trials, what's next for China-Japan relations?

Eighty years ago today, on May 3, 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, commonly known as the Tokyo Trials, convened to hold Japan's wartime leaders accountable for crimes against peace and humanity during World War II.

Yet eight decades later, deep concerns persist over whether Japan has truly reckoned with its wartime history and learned the tribunal's lessons, as China-Japan relations plunge into their most serious and difficult state since diplomatic ties were normalized.

With neo-militarism rising in Japan and beginning to pose a real threat, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that it is all the more relevant to renew the background, conclusions and principles of the Tokyo Trials.

The unhealed wound of history

At the 1946 proceedings, Japanese defense counsel argued that no state of war had existed between China and Japan because Tokyo had never issued a formal declaration of war.

Chinese prosecutor Xiang Zhejun thundered back: "Japan dispatched troops to occupy vast areas of China, killing millions of soldiers, as well as children, women, helpless civilians, and non-combatants. I believe these are facts known to the world. If that is not war, what is?"

The tribunal, which sat from May 3, 1946, to November 12, 1948, convicted 25 Class-A Japanese war criminals, with seven sentenced to death, including Hideki Tojo, the most notorious war criminal, who served as Japanese prime minister between 1941 and 1944.

Alongside the Nuremberg trials, the Tokyo judgment enshrined a foundational postwar international order. Yet Japan's right wing has spent decades trying to dismantle it.

The evidence of revisionism has accumulated over the years: Japanese politicians' public visits to Yasukuni Shrine, perceived distortions in history textbooks, debates surrounding revisions to the pacifist constitution, and accelerating military expansion.

In March, a Japanese Self-Defense Forces officer armed with a knife stormed the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, an act that Chinese analysts say reflects the deep contamination of Japanese policymaking on history and other core issues.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has also taken notice. In an April 30 working paper on Japan's nuclear ambitions, Beijing stated starkly: "Japan has never thoroughly repented on its history of aggression during World War II, and in fact does not accept its status as a defeated country. There has been loud noise within Japan about overturning historical judgments."

Foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian put it more bluntly: "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Tokyo Trials. In such a special year, not only has Japan failed to deeply reflect on its crimes of aggression, but it is also recklessly pursuing military expansion. The international community will never accept this."

Guan Zhaoyu, an East Asia expert at the China Youth University of Political Studies, warns that Japan's neo-militarism is not an abstract concept.

"If Japan continues to use the so-called 'China threat' as a pretext to accelerate arms expansion and war preparations," he writes, "it will inevitably stimulate a regional arms race, heighten bloc confrontation, and increase the risk of crisis miscalculation."

Worse, Guan argues, by denying its aggressive past while breaching the pacifist constitution's limits, Japan is "hollowing out the constraints of the Tokyo Trials and the postwar international order in real terms."

Read more:

Tokyo Trials 80 years on: A time to cherish peace, justice and humanity

Unrelinquished militarism: Japan's rearmament raises regional security concerns

Beijing warns Tokyo: Taiwan is China's internal affair

Japan's neo-militarism is also reflected in its intervention in the Taiwan question, as right-wing forces have increasingly sought to exploit it to expand military capabilities.

From Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's provocative remarks on Taiwan last November to the military buildup in southwestern Japan, the Japanese right wing is using the Taiwan question as a lever to break postwar restraints, accelerate arms expansion and intervene in regional affairs, Guan writes.

Citing meddling on the Taiwan question, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao delivered a stark assessment at a February reception in Tokyo: "Current China-Japan relations have fallen into the most severe and difficult situation since the normalization of diplomatic ties, and the responsibility lies entirely with Japan."

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's questions to Japan during this year's Two Sessions cut to the heart of the matter: Since Taiwan affairs are purely China's internal affairs, what gives Japan the right to interfere with them? Why is Japan entitled to invoke self-defense if anything happens in China's Taiwan region?

Wang further asked: Is exercising the "right of collective self-defense" simply a way to hollow out Japan's pacifist Constitution, which renounces the right of belligerency? Given that Japanese militarists once used "survival-threatening situation" as a pretext for launching aggression, such rhetoric can only make the people of China and the rest of Asia alert and deeply worried: Where exactly is Japan headed?

In its latest annual diplomatic blue book, the Japanese government downgraded its ties with China from "one of the most important bilateral relations" to simply "an important neighbor."

In response, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning made clear that the root cause of the current situation in China-Japan relations is that Takaichi made erroneous remarks on Taiwan and breached Japan's commitments, actions that erode the political foundation of bilateral ties and challenge the postwar international order.

The Japanese side needs to abide by the four political documents between China and Japan and its own commitments, reflect on and correct its wrongdoings, and take concrete actions to uphold the political foundation of China-Japan relations, she urged.

What next?

Eighty years after the Tokyo Trials opened, the questions they settled are being reopened. As Guan put it: "There can be differences in China-Japan relations, yet such differences must be kept within bounds. Japan may pursue its own security interests, but not at the expense of China's sovereignty, security and development interests."

Beijing has signaled both warning and openness. In a video published on Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the Tokyo Trials' opening, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said: "We oppose Japanese militarism, and stand ready to join hands with the Japanese people to safeguard the hard-won peace."

"The past cannot be changed, but the future is ours to choose. All peoples must be clear and stand on the right side of history. Together, we must defend the just outcomes of the Tokyo Trials. And together, we will walk toward a brighter future."