By Zhong Sheng
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently remarked in a Diet debate that a Taiwan emergency could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" warranting Japan's exercise of the right of collective self-defense, implying Japan's possible military involvement in the Taiwan question. Such erroneous remarks, brazenly interfering in China's internal affairs and openly challenging the post-WWII international order, have sparked worldwide outrage and provoked strong indignation among all who uphold justice.
Yet Takaichi remains unrepentant, refusing to retract her erroneous statements. This fully exposes the profoundly misguided and extremely dangerous historical, normative, and strategic views held by Japan's right-wing forces. The international community, especially Asian countries, must remain highly vigilant regarding the perilous direction of Japan's strategic trajectory.
Takaichi's fallacious remarks on Taiwan amount to nothing less than reviving militarism. The slogan "a Taiwan contingency is a Japanese contingency" is a dangerous narrative circulating in Japanese political circles, attempting to forcibly link China's national reunification with Japan's so-called security interests. Barely a month after taking office, Takaichi has already become the first sitting Japanese prime minister to openly peddle the notion that "a Taiwan contingency is a Japanese contingency" and to associate it with the exercise of the right of collective self-defense. This reveals the perilous trajectory of her domestic and foreign policy orientation.
Historically, Japanese militarism repeatedly used the so-called "survival-threatening situation" as a pretext for external aggression, including brazenly launching the September 18th Incident and initiating the war of aggression against China under the guise of "exercising the right of self-defense". These acts brought tremendous suffering to the peoples of Asia and the world, including China. Today, by once again invoking the so-called survival-threatening situation, Sanae Takaichi gives the world every reason to worry that Japan may repeat the disastrous path of militarism.
Her reckless remarks constitute an open challenge to historical justice. Japan bears a grave historical responsibility for the Taiwan question. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan occupied Taiwan and imposed half a century of colonial rule, during which it committed innumerable atrocities. In 1945, Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender and formally accepted international legal documents such as the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, which stipulated that Taiwan be returned to China. China recovered Taiwan and resumed the exercise of its sovereignty over the island, allowing historical justice to finally prevail.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War as well as the 80th anniversary of the recovery of Taiwan. Instead of reflecting on history, the Japanese side is now creating new disturbances on the Taiwan question. Such wrongful words and deeds, which interfere in China's internal affairs and blatantly cross red lines, gravely undermine the political foundation of China-Japan relations and pose a serious challenge to the post–WWII international order.
The Taiwan question is at the very core of China's core interests and is a red line and bottom line that must not be crossed. How to resolve the Taiwan question and achieve national reunification is a matter for the Chinese people, which brooks no interference by any external forces.
Eighty years ago, the brave Chinese people defeated the Japanese aggressors. Today, eighty years later, the resolve of the Chinese people to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity is rock-solid, our will is unshakable, and our capabilities are far stronger than before. Any attempt to meddle in or obstruct China's reunification is nothing but a futile move, utterly overestimating itself. We sternly warn the Japanese side that stirring up trouble over the Taiwan question is, in essence, courting trouble for itself.
The historical crimes committed by Japanese militarism are grave, and the peoples of China and all countries around the world have not forgotten them, nor will they ever forget. For the first time, a Japanese leader has expressed ambitions to intervene militarily in the Taiwan question and issued a direct military threat against China. Behind this lies the dangerous attempt by right-wing forces in Japan to break free from the constraints of the pacifist Constitution and pursue the status of a military power.
In recent years, Japan has drastically adjusted its security policy, continuously increasing its defense budget, loosening restrictions on arms exports, and seeking to develop offensive weaponry. It is charging full speed down the wrong path of military expansion. Although it proclaims itself a "peaceful nation" and advocates for a world free of nuclear weapons, the Takaichi administration has been vague and evasive regarding Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles, implying the possibility of abandoning them. Some senior Japanese officials have even claimed that introducing nuclear-powered submarines should not be ruled out. These developments reveal a major and troubling shift in Japan's policymaking.
Eighty years after Japan's surrender in WWII, Sanae Takaichi has again made dangerously provocative remarks that have shocked all sides. This is not only strategic recklessness, but a deliberate provocation. The people of the world, including the Chinese people, must be fully prepared to resolutely defend peace and justice.