China warns against rising Japanese neo-militarism, urges sincere remorse from Japan

A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman on Saturday issued a stern warning against the rise of Japanese neo-militarism, urging Tokyo to abandon its dangerous ambition of military buildup and demonstrate a genuine willingness to face history with sincere acts of remorse to win the trust of neighboring Asian countries and the international community.

Senior Colonel Jiang Bin, the ministry spokesman, made the statement at a press briefing in Beijing in response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks made during her recent visits to Australia and Vietnam.

During the visits, she called for strengthening security cooperation with these countries and proposed a new "free and open Indo-Pacific" vision while also suggesting that Japan's postwar pacifist constitution should be periodically updated to reflect contemporary security challenges.

"We firmly oppose Japan's ruling authorities for using the so-called 'freedom and openness' and 'security cooperation' as a pretext to provoke camp confrontation and form exclusive groupings to undermine the strategic security and interests of other countries and seek excuses and breakthroughs in loosening restrictions on its own military capabilities," said Jiang.

"May 3 this year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trial. Over the past 80 years, Japanese right-wing forces have deliberately sought to downplay and defy the solemn rulings that represent humanity's conscience and historical justice, distorting and denying the well-documented aggressive crimes committed by Japanese militarism. Class-A war criminals who committed heinous atrocities are glorified as 'heroes' and enshrined at the Yasukuni Shrine. The Japanese government's stance on 'upholding the pacifist constitution and pursuing the path of a peaceful nation' has evolved from explicit commitments to duplicity, and now, under the Takaichi administration, to openly promoting constitutional revision. Japanese right-wing forces are gradually shedding their disguise, shifting from covert military expansion to overt war preparations, and the real-world threat posed by Japan's neo-militarism to regional peace is becoming increasingly apparent," he said.

"The true demand of our times is to seek peace rather than war, and cooperation rather than confrontation. We urge Japan's ruling authorities to cease their hypocritical self-proclamation and the dangerous ambition of expanding military capabilities and preparing for war, and instead demonstrate a genuine willingness to face history with sincere acts of remorse, thereby winning the trust of neighboring Asian countries and the international community,"said the spokesman.

China warns against rising Japanese neo-militarism, urges sincere remorse from Japan

China's Long March represented an arduous chapter for the Communist Party of China (CPC), demonstrating the Party's endurance, determination and resilience while laying groundwork for the nation's later development into one of the world's most powerful countries, said British scholar Martin Jacques.

Jacques, a former senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies, Cambridge University, made the remarks in a recent interview with the China Radio International (CRI).

"It was a very difficult moment in the struggle of the Communist Party of China. The Long March was suffered huge casualties. It marched around large parts of China. And in so doing, it obtained the recognition and support of people in many different provinces," he said.

"It was a tremendous act of defiance which left an indelible memory for the Chinese down the ages over the last 90 years. What it did was to show the Chinese people, and demonstrate to the Chinese people the endurance, the determination and the resilience of the Chinese Communist Party, also to remind the Chinese of the unity of China," he said.

"What it shows is how difficult it was, but how determined the Communist Party of China was, and then to go on after the revolution to begin to build a new China to the point today where China is one of the most powerful countries in the world. Those people who know the story of China's Long March cannot help but admire what was achieved, the courage, the resilience. It is a reminder of what China is capable of," the scholar added.

The Long March (1934-1936) was a military maneuver by the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army that later became a defining episode in modern Chinese history, symbolizing endurance and perseverance as the poorly armed soldiers crossed some of the country's harshest terrain, enduring hunger, thirst and cold, to establish a new revolutionary base. The official record of the Long March made by the First Front Army of the Red Army was 12,500 km, which took it one year from 1934-1935. Two other front armies of the Red Army, the second and the fourth, started the journey later, took different routes, and completed the march in 1936.

Long March forges CPC's resilience behind China's rise: British scholar