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By Micah McCartney
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China accused Japan of accelerating "remilitarization" after reports said Tokyo plans to lift restrictions on exporting lethal weapons to certain countries.
"China is seriously concerned about this," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a Tuesday press conference, calling the move a "fundamental shift" in Japan’s postwar weapons-export policy that violates its constitution.
Since taking office in October, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has sought to accelerate a security buildup driven largely by China’s rapid military expansion and pressure on Taiwan as well as North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
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Her government approved a record defense budget equal to 2 percent of Japan's GDP two years ahead of schedule and confirmed plans to stand up anti-air missiles on an island just 70 miles off Taiwan's east coast. These moves, coupled with controversial comments by Takaichi on what might constitute military intervention in a Taiwan scenario, have fueled tensions between Beijing and the U.S. treaty ally.
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Newsweek reached out to Takaichi's office by email with a request for comment.
Takaichi's government has presented plans to relax curbs on military exports the first time in nearly six decades by the end of April, in effect greenlighting lethal weapons transfers to partner countries.
Weapons systems, to be approved case by case, would also proceed without prior notification to Japan's parliament, local media reported. The National Diet would instead be informed afterward, according to government plans presented during a top-level meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on Security on Tuesday.
The plans "seriously violate" Japan's postwar constitution and international safeguards put in place after World War II to prevent a return to militarism, Mao said.
The spokesperson told reporters these revisions would undermine safeguards designed to prevent the resurgence of Japanese militarism.
Mao accused Japanese right-wing forces of pushing security policy in an "offensive and expansionist direction" and urged the international community to remain "highly vigilant." She called on Tokyo to reflect on its wartime history and avoid "going further down the wrong path."
The revisions to Japan's 1967 Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology are expected to face pushback from opposition parties, though Takaichi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party holds a commanding majority in the lower house, all but precluding a legislative block.
Akira Nagatsuma, a lawmaker from the centrist Constitutional Democratic Party, in February urged prior legislative approval, the Asahi Shimbun reported. He observed that in the U.S., weapons exports above a certain monetary threshold require review by Congress.
Takaichi pushed back, arguing authorization of defense exports falls within the purview of executive authority.
An opinion poll conducted in early March by NHK found 53 percent of respondents opposed easing restrictions on weapons exports, while 32 percent were in favor of the move.
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