Taiwan East China Sea U.S.–China Military Doctrine

Ministry of National Defense Spokesperson Chen Xi Answers Reporter Questions Regarding Japan's 2026 Edition of the "Defense White Paper"

国防部新闻发言人陈曦就日本政府2026版《防卫白皮书》答记者问

PLA Daily (解放军报) 4 August 2026

Summary

MND spokesperson Chen Xi, responding to Japan's 2026 Defense White Paper, rejected its characterization of China as 'an unprecedented and greatest strategic challenge' and accused Tokyo of using 'exclusively defensive defense' (専守防衛) as cover for developing long-range offensive capabilities, militarizing space, and embedding what Chen called 扩军备战 (military expansion and war preparation) into Japan's institutional and economic framework. The statement deploys the phrase 新型军国主义 ('neo-militarism') to frame Japan's defense buildup not as a response to regional threats but as a structural transformation of the Japanese state — a framing the PRC has used with increasing frequency as Japan expands its counterstrike capability and defense budget. The Taiwan passage is boilerplate, but its placement alongside the neo-militarism charge extends that charge into a direct warning that Tokyo's White Paper framing of Taiwan-area PLA activity crosses what Beijing defines as a red line in bilateral relations.

Translation

Reporter: According to reports, Japan has officially released the 2026 edition of its "Defense White Paper," which falsely claims that China's military movements constitute "an unprecedented and greatest strategic challenge," and states that Chinese military activities in the vicinity of Taiwan are becoming increasingly frequent, and that the security and strategic environment in Japan's surrounding region is in its most severe and complex period since the end of World War II. What is your comment on this?

Chen Xi: Japan's new edition of the "Defense White Paper" is riddled with false narratives, grossly hypes up a "surrounding security crisis," and stirs up the so-called "China threat." This is completely a case of the thief crying "stop thief" (贼喊捉贼), and is nothing but an excuse to untie Japan's own military constraints. We are strongly dissatisfied with and resolutely opposed to this.

Japan's ruling authorities continue to use the pretext of "exclusively defensive defense" (専守防衛) as a cover while accelerating the revision of the "three security documents," continuously increasing defense spending, vigorously developing long-range offensive capabilities, advancing the weaponization and battlefieldization of space, and even packaging the expansion of the defense industry as an economic growth driver — all in a vain attempt to deeply embed military expansion and war preparation (扩军备战) into the national institutional framework, the economic and industrial sector, and public opinion. Japan's "neo-militarism" (新型军国主义) is taking shape and becoming a menace; it has become a serious challenge to the postwar international order and a genuine threat to regional peace and stability. The Taiwan question concerns China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, concerns the political foundation of China-Japan relations, and is a red line that must not be crossed. We urge the Japanese side to deeply reflect on its history of aggression, stop interfering in China's internal affairs, stop misleading the Japanese people and the international community, and not go further and further down the wrong path of "remilitarization."

Original Chinese

记者：据报道，日本正式公布2026年版《防卫白皮书》，诬称中国军事动向是“前所未有的最大战略挑战”，并称中方在台湾周边军事活动趋于频繁，日本周边安全战略环境正处于战后最为严峻复杂的时期。请问对此有何评论？陈曦：日新版《防卫白皮书》充斥虚假叙事，大肆渲染“周边安全危机”，炒作所谓“中国威胁”，完全是贼喊捉贼，为自身军事松绑找借口。我们对此强烈不满、坚决反对。日本执政当局继续打着“专守防卫”的幌子，加速修订“安保三文件”，持续增加防卫开支，大力发展远程进攻能力，推进太空武器化、战场化，甚至将军工产业扩张包装为经济增长点，妄图将扩军备战深度嵌入国家制度、经济产业和社会舆论。日本“新型军国主义”成势为患，已成为战后国际秩序的严重挑战和地区和平稳定的真正威胁。台湾问题事关中国主权和领土完整，事关中日关系政治基础，是不可逾越的红线。我们敦促日方深刻反省侵略历史，停止干涉中国内政，停止误导日本民众和国际社会，不要在“再军事化”的错误道路上越走越远。