China warns Japan’s rising neo-militarism poses real threat

China’s Foreign Ministry has warned that “neo-militarism” in Japan is re-emerging and already constitutes a real threat, marking the 80th anniversary of the opening of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trial).

The ministry said the international community should recall the causes, principles, and outcomes of the Tokyo Trial, Caliber.Az reports per Chinese media.

A spokesperson stated that right-wing forces in Japan are trying by all means to deny and distort the verdicts of the Tokyo Trial, as well as justify crimes committed during the Second World War. According to the official, history textbooks in Japan are being revised, and a distorted perception of events is being formed among the public.

The spokesperson added that Japanese officials and politicians continue to honour war criminals and pay tribute to them at the Yasukuni Shrine. In Beijing’s view, Japan is preparing to accelerate remilitarisation, deploy offensive weapons, restructure its military apparatus, and revise its pacifist constitution.

The Tokyo Trial took place in Tokyo from 1946 to 1948. The tribunal included representatives from the Soviet Union, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, India, and the Philippines. 

Of the 29 senior officials of the Japanese Empire charged, 25 were sentenced to hanging or imprisonment, including life terms. Former prime ministers Kōki Hirota and Hideki Tojo were executed in the courtyard of Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, while another former premier, Fumimaro Konoe, died by suicide before his arrest.

By Jeyhun Aghazada