Dear Friend,
Tenā koe.
Recently, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments linking the Taiwan question to Japan’s so-called “survival-threatening situation” and even hinting potential military intervention are deeply shocking and alarming. Such remarks not only constitute gross interference in China’s internal affairs but also openly challenge the post-World War II order. They blatantly violate a series of bilateral agreements between China and Japan including the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, contradict the spirit of Japan’s pacifist constitution established after reflection on its wartime past, and send a dangerous and wrong signal to the international community.
Furthermore, recent moves by Japan to remilitarise, particularly discussions in the country advocating for possession of nuclear weapons, warrant even greater vigilance from the international community, particularly countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Such rhetoric is not an isolated incident but a prism revealing deep-seated issues in Japan’s historical perspective and a dangerous shift in its strategic posture. The so-called “survival-threatening situation” has historically been tied to Japan’s militarist aggressions. In modern history, Japan repeatedly invoked such pretexts to launch wars of aggression against China and other Asian neighbors, inflicting immense suffering.
Eighty years ago, tremendous sacrifices were made worldwide, especially by the Chinese people, in the global struggle to defeat fascism, giving rise to a postwar international order centered on the United Nations and committed to enduring peace. However, as a nation that once brought catastrophe to the Asia-Pacific region, Japan’s stance on its history of aggression continues to cast a shadow over regional peace.
Unlike Germany, which has pursued thorough reckoning through legislation, education, and reparations, Japan has never fully eradicated the remnants of militarism nor reflected profoundly on its history. Class-A and Class-B war criminals were reintegrated into the political, economic, and military mainstream, allowing their ideological lineage to persist. Japanese leaders have repeatedly paid respects at the Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are honored. State-approved textbooks have systematically whitewashed or outright denied historical atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of “comfort women”, thereby distorting collective memory.
Although the 1995 Murayama Statement once acknowledged Japan’s past acts of aggression and colonial rule, successive administrations have since diluted or cast doubt on these acknowledgments, reflecting a continued absence of genuine contrition at the state level. Notably, the very Diet member who publicly challenged the Murayama Statement in the past is the current Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Such an erroneous approach to history is far from being merely a domestic issue. It directly tramples upon cornerstones of the postwar international order such as the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, negates the historical justice of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial), and gravely hurts the sentiments of people in all victimized nations, including China, South Korea, Southeast Asian countries, and New Zealand.
Many in New Zealand may still carry the memory of the inhuman torture suffered by more than 300 kiwi prisoners of war under Japanese occupation, and of the 22 New Zealanders executed by the Japanese in Kiribati during World War II. To forget or deny history is to betray the memory of sacrifice, and to let the wounds of the past bleed anew.
Taiwan’s return to China forms an integral part of the postwar international order, underpinned by unequivocal historical and legal grounds concerning its sovereignty. The One-China principle represents a broad international consensus and a commitment enshrined in the four key Sino-Japanese political documents, carrying binding force under international law and permitting neither distortion nor ambiguity. Linking Taiwan to Japan’s so‑called “survival” serves as a pretext for military expansion, resurrecting its former aggressive logic of “line of advantage”and “lifeline”. Such rhetoric lays bare the lingering colonial mindset toward Taiwan within certain Japanese forces, and the restless specter of militarism cloaked beneath a veneer of peace.
In recent years, Japan has undergone a sharp shift in its security policy, moving rapidly away from its exclusively defense-oriented principle toward a proactive strike posture. By lifting the ban on collective self-defense, significantly increasing military spending, and developing what it calls “capability to strike enemy bases”, Japan has steadily hollowed out the core commitment of Article 9 of its constitution—“forever renouncing war, the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes”—and is increasingly advancing along a path of remilitarisation and rearmament.
More significantly, Japan has been actively laying the groundwork, both materially and through public discourse, to undermine its longstanding three non-nuclear principles of not possessing, not producing, and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons into its territory.
According to authoritative international reports, Japan has stockpiled around 47 tons of separated plutonium over the long term, theoretically enough to produce thousands of nuclear warheads. Historically, it has also held over 300 kilograms of weapon-grade plutonium directly usable in nuclear arms. With a complete nuclear industrial chain spanning uranium enrichment to spent-fuel reprocessing, Japan retains the technical capacity—widely assessed by experts—to convert its civilian nuclear capabilities into military use and assemble a nuclear device within a relatively short timeframe, potentially just a few months.
Since the new administration took office in Japan, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other key figures have been pushing to revise the three non-nuclear principles, advocating for the strengthening of so-called “extended deterrence”, hinting at the introduction of nuclear submarines, and publicly claiming that Japan should possess and independently develop nuclear weapons.
These remarks and actions represent a deliberate and incremental form of “tactical probing”. Leveraging its substantial nuclear technology and material stockpiles, Japan is gradually testing, through reversible rhetoric, the tolerance of both domestic and international audiences toward altering its postwar national security framework. The ultimate aim is to fully break free from the constraints of its pacifist constitution and international law established after World War II, thereby achieving a fundamental transformation of its national security strategy.
Japan’s rhetoric and actions constitute a clear breach of its own commitments. Particularly as a non‑nuclear state party to the Nuclear Non‑Proliferation Treaty and the sole country to have endured atomic bombings, such behavior is profoundly cynical and dangerous. It erodes the UN‑centered international security system, undermines the global nuclear non‑proliferation regime, and fuels regional arms races and security instability.
For a country like New Zealand which has long valued independent diplomacy, upheld nuclear-free principles, and lived through the realities of World War II, Japan’s recent trajectory is surely not what it wishes to see. People here cherish peace and understand the importance of maintaining a nuclear-free, stable, and autonomous South Pacific.
A Japan that not only fails to reflect on or repent for its history of aggression but even seeks to deny or glorify it, a Japan that threatens military intervention in its neighbor’s internal affairs, a Japan that pursues rearmament, remilitarisation and even nuclear weapons, poses a grave threat to international and regional peace and security. Such a path runs counter to our shared desire for peace, especially among nations and peoples in this region, demanding our collective vigilance.
That said, we must distinguish between the right-wing political forces driving these trends and the broader Japanese public. Many Japanese citizens, scholars, and civil groups have long upheld the spirit of Japan’s pacifist constitution. They actively promote truthful understanding of history and seek reconciliation with Asian neighbors. Their voices deserve to be heard, and their efforts warrant support.
China and New Zealand stood together in the fight against fascism during World War II. Today, we continue to share common interests in upholding international justice and maintaining peace and stability in the South Pacific. China calls on all nations and peoples who cherish truth, respect international law, and value peace to join hands in opposing any attempts of justifying colonial history or destabilizing the region, resisting the risks of historical revisionism and military expansion to safeguard the hard-won peace we now share.
History is our greatest teacher and our clearest warning. Only by facing history can we build a better future. Only by upholding international law can we sustain lasting peace.
Ngā mihi.
Sincerely yours,
Wang Xiaolong
Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand