Hulun Buir City in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region witnessed extremely cold weather on Friday, with the lowest temperature hitting minus 46.9 degrees Celsius.
Freezing fog brought low visibility to Genhe City, known as "China's cold pole", and neighboring Yakeshi City, both in Hulun Buir City, on Thursday and Friday.
Relevant departments in Hulun Buir have activated emergency response plans, including de-icing roads and ensuring normal operation of the heating system.
Local meteorological department said the extreme cold will continue in northern Hulun Buir over the next two days.
North China's Inner Mongolia witnesses extremely cold weather
Japan's latest record-high defense budget and a broader shift in security policy since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office have sparked alarm, with a Japanese military commentator warning that Tokyo's accelerating militarization deserves close international vigilance.
In an interview with China Media Group, Japanese military commentator Konishi Makoto said the trend signals a dangerous turn that could undermine regional peace.
Japan's draft defense budget was set at a record 9.04 trillion yen (about 58 billion U.S. dollars) for fiscal 2026, local media reported Friday.
The figure exceeds the then record initial budget of 8.7 trillion yen for the current fiscal 2025 starting in April and is in line with Japan's defense buildup plan to allot about 43 trillion yen to defense outlays from fiscal 2023 through 2027.
Konishi pointed out that Japan's moves toward debating nuclear weapons are not impulsive, but the result of long-term planning.
"[The Japanese government] is raising military spending to 2 percent, 2.5 percent, or even 3 percent of GDP. Japan is advancing militarism at an astonishing pace. In the past, Japan clearly rejected nuclear armament, but the logic has now shifted to discussion, then acceptance, and eventually nuclearization. Japan is currently moving along this path," he said.
He warned that policy moves since Takaichi took office have not only heightened regional tensions but could also pushed Japan closer to the front line of conflict, calling for heightened alertness and a strong curb on it.
"I think simply withdrawing the statements or issuing an apology is far from enough. If this process of militarization is not fundamentally stopped, the problem cannot be truly resolved," he said.
Konishi further noted that Japan's rightward shift in recent years is closely tied to a failure to properly reflect on its history of aggression.
"As a Japanese person, I feel deeply ashamed. Historical revisionism is resurfacing. Combined with the policy direction of the Takaichi administration, politicians' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, and the Self-Defense Forces' so-called 'southwestern shift strategy,' it has formed an absurd logic: 'We are victims, so we must avoid failing again.' This way of thinking is spreading in society. The inferiority complex born from defeat is gradually turning into blind confidence, which is a key feature of the current ideological changes in Japan," he said.
Under the defense budget, 100.1 billion yen has been earmarked for building the "Shield" layered coastal defense system, which requires numerous aerial, surface and underwater vehicles, while 1.1 billion yen has been set aside to assess the use of long-endurance drones as a measure against airspace violations, Kyodo News reported.
Meanwhile, an 18.3 trillion yen supplementary budget enacted on Dec. 16 for the current fiscal year included 1.7 trillion yen for security and diplomacy, allowing Japan to bring defense-related spending to its target of 2 percent of gross domestic product within fiscal 2025, two years ahead of the previous schedule, the report said.
Military analyst calls for vigilance against Japan's accelerating militarization
