A warning on the rise of Japanese aggression
To advance this narrative, they openly distorted history, misled public opinion, and sought to disrupt the relationship between China and Australia. Some misled people made comments that confuse right with wrong. To justify the truth, I would like to make the following clarifications.
First, a “survival-threatening situation” has historically been a prelude to Japan’s foreign aggression. In history, Japan repeatedly invoked the so-called “survival-threatening situation” to push public opinion into supporting wars of foreign aggression, including the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, the invasion of China’s northeast on September 18, 1931, and the North China Incident that marked Japan’s expanded aggression in 1935.
In 1941, using the same pretext, Japan launched the attack on the US base at Pearl Harbor, inflicting profound suffering on peoples across the Pacific. Creating crises, mobilising public opinion and engaging in military adventurism have long been a go-to tactic for Japan to launch aggression.
Takaichi’s remarks blatantly break Japan’s fundamental commitment to a path of peace and seek to exploit populism to revive militarism. The Taiwan question is merely the lever that has been chosen to advance this dangerous agenda.
This reminds us that more than 80 years ago, Japanese imperialism launched a brutal war of aggression against the peoples of the Asia-Pacific, causing tens of millions of innocent civilian deaths. Even Darwin Port, 14,000km from Japan, was savagely bombed, resulting in the deaths of more than 900 innocent civilians.
To this day, it remains the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. In Southeast Asia, Australian soldiers were beheaded after surrendering, and more than 10,000 were tortured to death.
Second, Takaichi’s remarks on the “Taiwan contingency” gravely hurt the Chinese people’s sentiments and violate Japan’s commitments.
Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times and is an inalienable part of Chinese territory. Japan occupied Taiwan for 50 years through war and unequal treaties. More than 600,000 Taiwanese were killed, over 300,000 young Taiwanese men were forcibly employed by the Japanese military, and over 2000 Taiwanese women were forced into sexual slavery as “comfort women”. Japan’s colonial rule is a painful, traumatic chapter in the collective memory of the people of Taiwan.
Good prevails over evil. In 1945, China and Australia, together with other countries for justice, defeated Japanese aggression with tremendous sacrifices. The return of Taiwan to China is clearly stipulated in the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, Japan’s Instrument of Surrender and other international documents. It is an undeniable outcome of World War II victory and a binding international obligation that Japan must honour as a defeated nation.
The “one China” principle is the universal consensus of the international community and a solemn commitment made by the Japanese government. The 1972 Sino-Japanese Joint Statement explicitly states “the government of Japan recognises the government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China” and “fully understands and respects the stand of the government of the People’s Republic of China that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory”.
The 1978 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People’s Republic of China gave these commitments legal binding force. Subsequent political documents have also reaffirmed these principles. No matter which political party or individual in Japan is in power, they must adhere to and strictly honour the commitments.
Third, Takaichi’s rhetoric exposes Japan’s refusal to accept defeat in WWII and its ambition to subvert the post-war international order. To prevent a revival of Japanese militarism, the Potsdam Proclamation explicitly prohibited Japan from rearming, and Japan’s constitution pledges to “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes”.
Yet after WWII, many Japanese war criminals were never held fully accountable, and the full extent of their atrocities was never thoroughly adjudicated. In recent years, these forces have distorted and glorified Japan’s war of aggression.
Under the pretext of “external threats”, they have repeatedly broken constitutional constraints, increased defence spending for 13 consecutive years, loosened restrictions on arms exports multiple times, pushed for the “normalisation” of the Self-Defence Forces, and even schemed to revise the “three non-nuclear principles”, paving the way for Japan’s return to military great-power status. These dangerous developments deserve our highest vigilance.
A country that loses its credibility would falter. Japan has never genuinely reflected on its history of aggression and has yet to offer sincere apologies to countries in the region, including China and Australia. Once Japanese militarism revives, it would seek ruthless revenge, and the peoples of the Asia-Pacific would be the first to suffer.
Today, Takaichi disregards the solemn commitments made by successive Japanese governments to China and flagrantly interferes in China’s internal affairs on the Taiwan question. Tomorrow, she could tear up any of Japan’s agreements with other countries or even turn against its allies to pursue hidden agendas. China’s firm response is not only to safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity but also to defend international fairness and justice.
Appeasement cannot bring peace, and indulging only emboldens aggressors and ultimately harms oneself. People who cherish peace across all nations must draw lessons from history, understand and support China’s just position, remain highly alert to any resurgence of Japanese militarism, and resolutely oppose any attempt to whitewash the history of colonial aggression.
Only by working together can we safeguard regional peace and stability, uphold the post-war international order, and prevent humanity from once again being devastated by the horrors of war.
Xiao Qian is China’s ambassador to Australia.
Editor’s note: Ambassador Xiao’s article follows the publication of a separate opinion piece by Japan’s former ambassador to Australia, Shingo Yamagami (“Where is Australia in Japan’s moment of need?”, 2/12).
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Recently, someone published misinformation in Australia, in the aim of whitewashing Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks of military threat against China by invoking a “survival-threatening situation”.