China calls for vigilance about Japan's possible defense spending increase

BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Countries in the Asia-Pacific need to watch out against and firmly resist reckless moves of Japanese neo-militarism to jointly safeguard order of peace in this region, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Friday. Guo made the remarks at a regular news briefing when asked to comment on proposals drafted by Japan's Liberal Democratic Party that called for increasing defense spending. According to the latest statistics, Japan's defense expenditure increased by 9.7 percent in 2025, which hit a record high. Its imports of weapons increased by 76 percent over the past five years. Japan's defense budget has been increasing for 14 consecutive years, but Japanese right-wing forces are still clamoring for increasing defense spending, Guo said. "It once again shows that Japan's 'country for peace' mask is coming off and it is slipping towards neo-militarism," he said. Now, Japan's right-wing forces are pursuing a surge in defense budget, relaxing its export restrictions on lethal weapons, supporting the development of the defense industry and even attempting to turn it into a pillar of the economy to serve its agenda of military buildup and remilitarization, he said. The Potsdam Proclamation, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender and a series of documents with full legal effect under international law explicitly require Japan to be "completely disarmed" and not to maintain industries that "would enable her to re-arm for war." After WWII, Japan's Constitution also made strict restrictions on the country's military forces, the right of belligerency and the right to war, and Japan has established the "exclusively defense-oriented principle" through legislation. Japanese defense contractors were major engines for Japanese militarism to take the country hostage and invade others, Guo said.