Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Sunday rejected accusations of “new militarism” by Tokyo and criticised China for rapidly expanding its military with little transparency, underscoring mounting tensions between the two countries. China continues to increase its defence spending at a high level, Koizumi said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, adding: “China’s external approach and military activities are matters of serious concern for Japan and the international community at the same time.” Rebutting criticism that Japan was embracing new militarism, he said: “Think about it. There’s a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers. Japan has neither of such weapons, and yet Japan is labelled ‘new militarism’?” Koizumi said Japan’s record since World War Two “speaks for itself”, citing its adherence to international law and commitment to the United Nations Charter, alongside efforts to uphold a “free and
open international order.” In May, China’s foreign ministry called on Asia-Pacific countries to be vigilant and “jointly resist the reckless actions of Japan’s neo-militarism”. At the Singapore forum, Chinese delegate Major General Meng Xiangqing also criticised Japan. “I 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 the Asian countries it once invaded,” he said. Ties between Japan and China sank to their 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. China claims Taiwan as its own territory, over the objections of Taipei’s government. Koizumi said he was “sad” he could not meet his Chinese counterpart at th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Sunday rejected accusations of “new militarism” by Tokyo and criticised China for rapidly expanding its military with little transparency, underscoring mounting tensions between the two countries. China continues to increase its defence spending at a high level, Koizumi said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, adding: “China’s external approach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n