Amid increasing China-Japan tensions over Taiwan, Tokyo has taken strong exception to comments by Beijing that “ghosts of militarism” are haunting Japan, and “far-right forces” in the country are trying to revive its militaristic past.
Tokyo said it had lodged a “stern demarche” to China through diplomatic channels after Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi accused Japan of seeking to revive militarism.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Wang weighed in on Beijing’s current relationship with Tokyo, which has been under heavy strain since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan in November.
Wang said that “Japanese people should no longer allow themselves to be manipulated or deceived by those far-right forces, or by those who seek to revive militarism”.
“All peace-loving countries should send a clear warning to Japan: if it chooses to walk back on this path, it will only be heading toward self-destruction.”
“If Japan doesn’t truly repent for its wrongdoing, history will only repeat itself,” Wang said. “Japanese people should not let far-right extremists move and drag them down. … If you go back down that old road, it will be a dead end. If you try gambling again, the loss will be faster and more devastating.”
Wang also contrasted post-war Germany with Japan, suggesting that Tokyo has never come to terms with its militaristic past or the sins committed by it during the Second World War.
“Japan still enshrines Class-A war criminals in a shrine and reveres them as ‘heroic souls,'” Wang said, claiming that “Japan has lingering ambitions for invasion and colonialism of Taiwan, and the ghosts of militarism are still haunting the country.”
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the claims in a post on X on Sunday, calling them “factually incorrect and ungrounded”.
“Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defense capabilities are in response to an increasingly severe security environment and are not directed against any specific third country,” the statement said.
It said there were “countries in the international community that have been rapidly increasing their military capabilities in a non-transparent manner,” but added that “Japan opposes such moves and distances itself from them”.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi made his stance clear at another session of the conference, followed by a stern demarche against the Chinese side through diplomatic channels, the statement said.
Just weeks into her term, Takaichi said Japan would intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
Beijing claims the self-ruled democratic island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.
Takaichi was seen as a China hawk before becoming Japan’s first woman prime minister in October.
She said last week after her resounding victory that under her leadership, Japan — which hosts some 60,000 US military personnel — would bolster its defences and “steadfastly protect” its territory.
However, the strong comments by Wang about Japan still honouring World War criminals and harboring imperialistic designs have once again reignited the debate about whether Tokyo has failed to come to terms with its defeat in the Second World War.
Has Tokyo Failed To Come To Terms With Its Defeat In The Second World War?
While Wang’s comments contrasting Germany’s postwar “reckoning” of its Nazi-era crimes with Japan’s approach to its wartime past have some elements of truth, the complete picture is far more complex.
It is indeed true that Japanese politicians, including former prime ministers like Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe, have visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war dead, including convicted Class A war criminals from the Second World War.
These visits have continued despite strong objections from countries on the receiving end of Japanese imperialism, such as China and South Korea.
Similarly, there have been allegations that Japanese school textbooks often downplay or omit details of wartime atrocities, such as the Nanjing Massacre and the forced prostitution of “comfort women.”
In Japan, revisionist voices, which downplay Japanese atrocities during the War and portray Japan more as a victim of the atomic bombings, have grown louder in recent years.
“There are very few people alive today who experienced the war in any of these countries, but I do not think they will ever stop talking about it because it is an effective tool with which to bash Japan,” said Hiromichi Moteki, chairman of the Tokyo-based Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact, which promotes a narrative of Japan’s actions during World War II that denies the atrocities that Japan committed.
“They want to claim the moral high ground over Japan, but all we want to do is have the right to remember and honor our war dead and teach our younger generations the history of the nation,” he told DW last year.
This group also claims that World War II was not a war of aggression started by Japan but an act of self-defense against the US and European nations that had colonized Asia. It claims Imperial Japan “liberated” the countries it conquered.
However, it is equally true that post-war Japan had one of the strongest pacifist constitutions and some of the strongest anti-nuclear weapon laws.
Japan’s post-War Constitution, particularly Article 9, explicitly renounces war as a sovereign right and prohibits maintaining land, sea, or air forces for warfare purposes.
This goes further than Germany’s Basic Law (Article 26), which forbids aggressive war but allows a defensive military, or Italy’s Constitution (Article 11), which rejects war as aggression but permits armed forces.
This commitment has meant that Japan kept the bare minimum armed forces, even as some of its regional adversaries, such as China, North Korea, and Russia, modernized theirs.
For instance, all three of Japan’s regional adversaries, China, Russia, and North Korea, have highly-evolved ballistic missile programs, possessing hundreds of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, and even hypersonic missiles, whereas Tokyo did not adopt an offensive ballistic missile program, rather focusing on developing a layered ballistic missile defense (BMD) system.
Similarly, despite possessing the technological know-how, Tokyo, for decades, resisted the temptation to profit from exporting offensive military weapon systems.
Japan also adopted the three principles of not possessing, producing, or allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons, rooted in its unique experience as the only nation to suffer atomic bombings. In contrast, Germany and Italy participate in NATO nuclear sharing, hosting U.S. nuclear weapons.
This despite the fact that China, North Korea, and Russia, all three countries, possess nuclear weapons.
Japan also did not develop nuclear-powered submarines.
As Japan’s regional adversaries advance toward militarization, Tokyo is under increasing pressure to fine-tune its pacifist constitution and its three non-nuclear principles in light of today’s geopolitical realities.
Furthermore, Japan has long-standing, active territorial disputes with both Russia and China, largely stemming from post-War settlements and historical claims over maritime territory.
These insecurities in Japan are further exacerbated under the Trump administration, which is non-committal to maintaining the status quo in the Indo-Pacific.
Furthermore, apart from Japan, all other losers of the First and Second World Wars, such as Turkey, Italy, and Germany, are members of NATO and enjoy collective security under its Article 5.
By contrast, Japan is not a member of NATO. Tokyo has a security treaty with the US, but it doubts Washington’s commitment to it under the Trump administration.
Wang’s point about Japan maintaining shrines that honor the war dead, including Class A War Criminals, also lacks context.
Turkey’s defeat in the First World War led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Similarly, Italy and Germany’s defeat in the Second World War led to the total collapse of Italy’s fascist regime and Germany’s Nazi regime.
Germany was also partitioned by the victors into East and West Germany.
In contrast, however, imperial Japan did not collapse; Tokyo signed an orderly, structured surrender agreement following atomic bombings by the US.
Unlike Germany, the Japanese government and monarchy remained in place, and the Imperial General Headquarters ordered its soldiers to surrender.
So unlike Turkey, Italy, and Germany, there was some continuity in pre and post-War Japan.
This probably explains why Japan maintained its shrines honoring the war dead even after its defeat and surrender in the Second World War.
While Japan has a strong anti-War movement and strong opposition to nuclear weapons, perhaps even stronger than Germany, it also maintains shrines honoring the war dead, including convicted war criminals.
Japan has a complex history. The high-voltage rhetoric from Beijing often lacks nuance and fails to recognize that it is China’s militarism that is pushing Tokyo to revise its pacifist constitution.
- With Inputs from AFP.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from the University of Sheffield, UK.
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- He can be reached at ahlawat.sumit85 (at) gmail.com
