FM Wang: Japan must not repeat history of aggression

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that the future of China-Japan relations hinges on Japan's behavior, urging the country to reflect on history and avoid repeating the disastrous mistakes of the past.

"A strong China with 1.4 billion people will never allow anyone to justify colonialism or overturn history's verdict on aggression," he said.

Wang made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing.

Referring to provocative remarks made last year by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi regarding Taiwan, Wang said that on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), Japan should have reflected on the wrong path it took in the past, including its invasion and colonization of Taiwan.

In November, Takaichi claimed that if something were to happen in Taiwan, it would constitute a "survival-threatening situation", allowing Japan to exercise its "right of collective self-defense".

Wang noted that the exercise of the right of self-defense presupposes that a country itself has been subjected to an armed attack. "Since Taiwan affairs are purely China's internal affairs, why is Japan entitled to invoke self-defense?" Wang asked.

Wang added that Japanese militarism once used claims of a "survival crisis" as a pretext to launch wars of aggression abroad, which inevitably raises deep vigilance and concern among the Chinese people and people across Asia.

He also noted that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials, describing them as a test of humanity's conscience that delivered historical justice.

Eighty years ago, judges from 11 countries conducted two and a half years of hearings and, based on overwhelming evidence, exposed the numerous crimes of Japanese militarism. "Eighty years later today, history has once again given Japan an opportunity for reflection," Wang said.

"We hope the Japanese people will keep their eyes wide open and never allow anyone to repeat the disastrous path of the past," Wang said.