{"id":6989,"date":"2026-05-31T14:35:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/japan-rejects-new-militarism-says-china-is-rapidly-arming\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T14:35:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:35:43","slug":"japan-rejects-new-militarism-says-china-is-rapidly-arming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/japan-rejects-new-militarism-says-china-is-rapidly-arming\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan rejects \u2018new militarism\u2019, says China is rapidly arming"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi accuses China of lacking military transparency and stresses the importance of dialogue for regional stability.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has dismissed claims that Tokyo is pursuing \u201cnew militarism\u201d and accused China of rapidly expanding its military with limited transparency.<\/p>\n<p>China continues to increase its defence spending at a high level, Koizumi said on Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/8\/5\/australia-japan-strike-largest-defence-deal-for-advanced-warships\">Australia, Japan strike largest defence deal for advanced warships<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/26\/taiwan-monitors-unprovoked-chinese-combat-patrol-near-island\">Taiwan monitors \u2018unprovoked\u2019 Chinese combat patrol near island<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/23\/some-fear-us-philippines-war-games-are-drawing-conflict-closer-to-home\">Some fear US-Philippines war games are drawing conflict closer to home<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cChina\u2019s external approach and military activities are matters of serious concern for \u2060Japan and the international community at the same time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink about it. There\u2019s a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers. Japan has neither of such weapons, and yet Japan is labelled \u2018new militarism\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Koizumi said Japan\u2019s record since World War II \u201cspeaks for itself\u201d, citing its adherence \u200cto international law and commitment to the United Nations Charter alongside efforts to uphold a \u201cfree and open international order\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In May, China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Asia Pacific countries to be vigilant and \u201cjointly resist the reckless actions of Japan\u2019s neo-militarism\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>At the Singapore forum, Chinese delegate Major General Meng Xiangqing criticised Japan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI deeply doubt whether a country that has not thoroughly eradicated the toxic legacy of militarism is qualified to talk extensively about defence cooperation on international occasions and whether it can win the trust of the international community, especially \u2060the Asian countries it once invaded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4615283\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4615283\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/afp_6a1c22101d85-1780228624.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (L) speaks with Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi during the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on May 29, 2026. (Photo by JAM STA ROSA \/ AFP)\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4615283\">US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, speaks with Koizumi during the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue on May 29, 2026 [Jam Sta Rosa\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ties between Japan and China sank to \u2060their worst level in years after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could draw a Japanese military response.<\/p>\n<p>China claims Taiwan as its own territory over the objections of the island\u2019s government.<\/p>\n<p>Koizumi said transparency comes from \u201cdiscussion and dialogue\u201d and lamented that China had not sent its defence minister to the conference, but he insisted Japan remains open to engagement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe keep the door open,\u201d he said, reaffirming Japan\u2019s \u2060commitment to dialogue with China and other regional players to foster stability.<\/p>\n<p>As China has been rapidly expanding and modernising its military, Japan has been reshaping its own defence policy. Last month, Takaichi\u2019s cabinet scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change in its post-war pacifist policy.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"japan-pushes-for-unity\">Japan pushes for unity<\/h2>\n<p>Separately on Sunday, Koizumi praised US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for his commitment to the Asia Pacific but at the same time stressed the continued need for strong coalitions globally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDivision weakens deterrence. Unity strengthens deterrence,\u201d he told the conference in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf gaps emerge among the United States, Europe and allies and like-minded countries, forces which take it as an opportunity will surely come in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must prevent such a situation. We must keep our cooperation going on. Now is the time to make our cooperation even stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump has been harsh about fellow members in NATO, and the comments at the Shangri-La conference came the day after Hegseth again chided Western European allies at the forum for not devoting enough resources to defence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi accuses China of lacking military transparency and stresses the importance of dialogue for regional stability. Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has dismissed claims that Tokyo is pursuing \u201cnew militarism\u201d and accused China of rapidly expanding its military with limited transparency. China continues to increase its defence spending at a high level, &#8230; <a title=\"Japan rejects \u2018new militarism\u2019, says China is rapidly arming\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/japan-rejects-new-militarism-says-china-is-rapidly-arming\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Japan rejects \u2018new militarism\u2019, says China is rapidly arming\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}