China accused Japan’s defense minister on Monday of spreading “baseless” claims and sowing confusion, a day after he launched a veiled crackdown on Beijing.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi had vowed on Sunday to continue to strengthen Japan’s military and warned that China was expanding its capabilities without sufficient transparency.
His comments They follow a months-long diplomatic spat between the Asian rivals that began when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if China tried to invade Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by Beijing.
China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Koizumi’s comments were “totally baseless”.
“They look pale and weak in the face of a series of historical and legal facts and figures,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a news conference.
“This Japanese official deliberately… attempts to turn the tables and sow confusion,” Lin said.
“Japan’s so-called dialogue is nothing but hypocrisy – a performance for show, without any real sincerity,” he added.
Under Takaichi, Japan has accelerated its shift toward a more proactive defense policy, further shaking off—with US encouragement—a pacifist outlook that has been in place since the end of World War II.
Koizumi made his comments at the annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, saying China’s expanding military capabilities were “a matter of serious concern to Japan”.
Tokyo will “steadily build up its defense capabilities and make continuous updates with a high degree of transparency,” including in the areas of artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, and cyber and space defense, he said.
Beijing has often reprimanded Tokyo for its pivot and said it is behind a reckless policy of “new militarism” that could destabilize the region.
