China's Defense Ministry said Japan's accelerating remilitarization is turning
the Asia-Pacific into a 'powder keg', accusing Tokyo of inflating a supposed
'China military threat' to justify loosening military restraints. The ministry
pointed to sustained large increases in Japan's defense budget, eased
restrictions on lethal weapons exports, plans to deploy medium- and long-range
missiles, expansion of offensive capabilities, and moves to revise the pacifist
constitution and become a 'combat-capable' state, warning these steps risk
regional destabilization and urging containment of what it called 'new
militarism'.
