On July 15, Japan's cabinet approved its annual defense white paper. The new document amplifies China as "an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge." It alleges that the Chinese military's training activities and its "cooperation" with Russia seriously undermine Japan's national security.

The exaggeration of the so-called "China threat" is, at its core, a pretext Japan uses to advance its agenda of military expansion. Following the end of World War II, Japan was subjected to strict military constraints to prevent a resurgence of fascism. These included a ban on possessing a de facto military force, restrictions on rearmament-capable industries, the renunciation of the right to declare war and a prohibition on the development of nuclear weapons.

However, driven by geopolitical considerations, the U.S. favored and supported Japan, allowing militaristic ideology to persist without thorough repudiation. Most notably, Japan plans to raise its defense spending to 43 trillion yen ($322 billion) over the next five years—equivalent to 2 percent of its GDP—surpassing the United Kingdom to become the world's fourth largest military spender.

This year sees the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. At this critical historical moment, rather than reflecting on its wartime responsibilities and learning from history, Japan is using the pretext of countering China to accelerate its military buildup. According to Japanese media, Tokyo is set to begin deploying 400 U.S.-made Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles with ranges of over 1,000 km. Combined with its globally advanced naval and air forces, Japan—a country that was never meant to possess a military or weapons of mass destruction—has, in effect, acquired long-range strike and cross-regional combat capabilities. 

Japan's growing ambitions warrant global vigilance. The notorious Yasukuni Shrine enshrines Class-A war criminals from World War II. There, Japan's wars of aggression, including the invasion of China and the Pacific War, are framed as "sacred wars of self-defense" launched in response to alleged "provocations" and "oppression" by China, the U.S., the UK and others. Such a distorted historical perspective still wields considerable influence among many Japanese.

Even more troubling is that, since 2021, Japan's Ministry of Defense has published an annual children's edition of the defense white paper. While previously available for optional purchase, this May saw a shift: The ministry distributed 6,100 copies of the 2024-based booklet to 2,400 elementary schools nationwide. This is the first time since World War II that official defense material has been systematically introduced into Japan's primary education system. Framed in a cartoon format, the booklet levels unfiltered accusations against neighboring countries—including China and Russia—in an attempt to justify Japan's military expansion. Most notably, in the section titled What Is Happening Around Japan?, it portrays regional military activities as strategic threats to Japan without offering any historical or diplomatic context. By promoting an "us-versus-them" narrative, the publication seeks to normalize the logic that "military power means peace" and "preemptive strikes equal self-defense," thereby gradually cultivating a national consensus that risks enabling a revival of fascist ideology.

Such episodes have occurred repeatedly throughout Japan's history. In 1894, Japan launched its aggression against China, seizing Taiwan and committing the infamous Port Arthur Massacre, in which more than 20,000 civilians were slaughtered.

On December 13, 1937, Japanese forces captured Nanjing—then the Chinese capital—and carried out a six-week bloodbath that claimed the lives of over 300,000 people. On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, triggering the Pacific War. In its early stages, approximately 350,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) were captured by Japanese forces. Statistics show that the death rate of those POWs held by Japan reached 27 percent—much higher than the rate among POWs held by Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy, which was around 4 percent.

Today, Japan has never genuinely reckoned with its wartime crimes or formally apologized to the nations it once invaded. For peace-loving people all over the world, they need to remain steadfast in preventing the resurgence of fascism in any form. 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon 

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