# China accuses Japan of "irresponsible militarism" > Introduction: a verbal rupture that reveals a deep fracture - Author: Maxime Marquette - Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co) - Section: Essay - Published: 2026-07-03 - Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/essai-la-chine-accuse-le-japon-dun-militarisme-irresponsable ## Introduction: a verbal rupture that reveals a deep fracture ### Words chosen to wound a sensitive historical memory Relations between **Beijing** and **Tokyo** reached, in early July **2026**, a level of tension rarely seen in years, with **China** openly accusing **Japan** of "irresponsible militarism" after Japanese Prime Minister **Sanae Takaichi** raised, in November 2025, the possibility of deploying self-defense forces in the event of a crisis over **Taiwan**. The choice of the word "militarism" is never accidental in the mouth of Chinese diplomats: it points directly to memories of the Japanese occupation of **China** during the Second World War, a historical wound that **Beijing** strategically reopens whenever it wants to mobilize public opinion against **Tokyo**. ### An escalation that goes far beyond rhetoric Beyond the words, **China** has already imposed economic **sanctions** targeting roughly forty Japanese companies and has recorded a 45 percent drop in Chinese tourism to **Japan** in February, illustrating the concrete scale of this bilateral diplomatic and economic deterioration. This combination of economic pressure and aggressive historical rhetoric outlines a coherent Chinese strategy aimed at isolating and weakening Japan's position on the sensitive question of **Taiwan**. ## Takaichi's remarks that triggered the crisis ### An unusual statement for a Japanese head of government In November 2025, Prime Minister **Sanae Takaichi** publicly suggested that **Japan** could deploy its self-defense forces if a crisis over **Taiwan** directly threatened the very existence of the Japanese nation, an unusually direct statement for a Japanese head of government. This break with traditional Japanese **diplomatic restraint** reflects a broader evolution of national security doctrine, increasingly concerned with the scale of China's military rise in the Indo-Pacific region. ### A position that reflects growing Japanese security anxiety This statement did not come out of nowhere: it reflects a growing Japanese security anxiety in the face of repeated Chinese maritime and air incursions near the **Senkaku** Islands, as well as the accelerated modernization of the People's Liberation Army observed for several years. For many Japanese strategists, a major crisis over **Taiwan** would automatically represent a direct existential threat to **Japan**, given its immediate geographic proximity to the democratic island. ## China's strategy of weaponized historical memory ### A diplomatic lever used for decades Beijing's use of the term "militarism" fits into a long-standing Chinese diplomatic tradition of invoking historical Japanese war crimes whenever **Tokyo** adopts a security posture that **China** judges too assertive. This strategy, effective at mobilizing domestic Chinese nationalist sentiment, also functions as a tool of international pressure aimed at diplomatically isolating **Japan** among other Asian nations that also suffered under Japanese occupation during the Second World War. ### A manipulation that deliberately ignores the current context This historical rhetoric, while politically effective, deliberately ignores the profound transformation of **Japan** since 1945 into a pacifist democracy whose constitution explicitly limits offensive military capabilities, unlike **China**, which continues a massive and ongoing rearmament. This factual asymmetry between a constitutionally constrained **Japan** and a militarily expanding **China** makes the Chinese accusation of "militarism" particularly hypocritical in light of the observable facts. ## The concrete economic impact of this diplomatic crisis ### Chinese tourism to Japan in free fall The 45 percent drop in Chinese tourism to **Japan** recorded in February **2026** concretely illustrates the scale of the economic consequences of this diplomatic crisis, with a Japanese tourism sector heavily dependent on Chinese visitors suddenly weakened. This spectacular decline, largely orchestrated by official Chinese warnings discouraging travel to **Japan**, demonstrates **Beijing's** willingness to use informal economic levers to punish **Tokyo** without officially triggering an open trade **war**. ### Targeted sanctions hitting strategic sectors The **sanctions** imposed on roughly forty Japanese companies affect a variety of strategic sectors, illustrating a Chinese intent to maximize the economic impact of its response while avoiding a total trade rupture that would also harm its own economy. This calibrated approach, neither too weak nor a complete break, reflects **Beijing's** calculated caution, seeking to punish **Tokyo** without fully alienating an important economic partner amid a persistent Chinese economic slowdown. ## Implications for the US-Japan alliance ### A test of solidarity for Washington This Sino-Japanese crisis represents an important test of the strength of the alliance between **Washington** and **Tokyo**, with the **United States** needing to demonstrate clear support for its Japanese ally in the face of growing Chinese economic and rhetorical pressure. A timid or ambiguous American response in this context would send a disastrous signal not only to **Japan**, but also to all of America's regional allies in the Indo-Pacific, from **South Korea** to the **Philippines**. ### Strategic coordination that must be strengthened This crisis underscores the urgency, for **Washington** and **Tokyo**, of strengthening their strategic coordination in the face of a **China** that systematically tests the cohesion of Western alliances in the region, seeking to exploit the slightest perceived crack between partners. This reinforced coordination should include coordinated economic response mechanisms to effectively counter future Chinese attempts at informal economic coercion against **Western** allies. ## South Korea, a cautious observer of this confrontation ### A neighbor sharing similar security concerns **South Korea**, itself grappling with complex historical tensions with **Japan** but sharing similar security concerns regarding **China** and **North Korea**, is watching this crisis with particular interest for its own regional strategic calculations. This cautious observation reflects the complexity of East Asian relations, where bilateral historical rivalries often coexist with shared security interests in the face of common threats such as the one posed by **Beijing**. ### An opportunity for trilateral rapprochement with Washington This crisis could paradoxically offer an opportunity for stronger trilateral rapprochement between **Seoul**, **Tokyo**, and **Washington**, with the three capitals sharing a common interest in containing the expansion of Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Such a rapprochement, if it materializes, would represent a major strategic development capable of partially offsetting the diplomatic isolation that **Beijing** is seeking to impose on **Japan** through this current crisis. ## What this crisis reveals about China's regional strategy ### A determination to fragment Western alliances This confrontation with **Japan**, occurring simultaneously with China's warning to the **United States** regarding **Taiwan**, illustrates a coherent Chinese regional strategy aimed at methodically fragmenting Western alliances in the Indo-Pacific region. This approach of multiple, simultaneous pressure across several distinct diplomatic fronts demonstrates a Chinese strategic sophistication that the **West** sometimes underestimates, preferring to analyze each crisis in isolation rather than as part of a coordinated whole. ### A need for an equally coordinated Western response Faced with this coordinated Chinese strategy, the Western response must itself become more coherent and integrated, explicitly linking the Taiwanese, Japanese, and South Korean issues into a unified strategic approach rather than one fragmented by file. It is this Western strategic coherence, still largely to be built, that will determine the collective capacity to effectively contain Chinese regional ambitions in the years to come. ## The military budget comparison that refutes the accusation ### A budget gap that speaks for itself China's military budget has more than doubled over the past decade, far surpassing that of **Japan**, whose **defense** spending remains constrained by historical constitutional limits and a pacifist political culture deeply rooted since 1945. This major budgetary disproportion, documented by multiple **Western** strategic research institutes, makes the Chinese accusation of Japanese **militarism** all the more difficult to objectively justify in light of the actual figures. ### Highly unequal budgetary transparency between the two countries **Japan** regularly publishes detailed white papers on its **defense** policy, accessible to the public and to international researchers, while **China** maintains persistent opacity about the true scale of its military capabilities and its regional strategic intentions. This **asymmetry** in transparency further reinforces the sense of hypocrisy surrounding Chinese accusations against a **Japan** that is markedly more open about its own national **defense** choices. ## Conclusion: a misnamed militarism that masks the real danger ### An accusation that should turn back on its author The Chinese accusation of "irresponsible militarism" against **Japan** constitutes, upon examination of the facts, a classic accusatory inversion that poorly masks the true source of regional instability: the massive and ongoing military modernization of **China** itself over more than a decade. **Japan**, constrained by its pacifist constitution and democratic institutions, in no way represents an offensive military threat comparable to the one **China** poses to its regional neighbors, from **Taiwan** to the **Philippines**. ### A call for clarity in the face of strategic disinformation Faced with this rhetorical manipulation, the **West** must maintain uncompromising factual clarity, systematically recalling that the true source of regional militarization remains **Beijing**, not the democracies simply seeking to secure their own legitimate safety. It is this clarity, maintained with consistency, that will make it possible to effectively counter Chinese propaganda and firmly support democratic allies like **Japan** in the face of unjustified pressure. **By Maxime Marquette, columnist** ## Columnist's transparency note ### Editorial stance I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies. I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events. ### Method and sources This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here. **Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies. **Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations. When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**. ### Nature of the analysis The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted. My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors. This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text. ## Sources ### Primary sources - [China-Japan relations sink to new low — The Guardian, July 2, 2026](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/02/china-japan-relations-tokyo-beijing-tensions) - [China urges US to handle Taiwan issue with utmost caution — Reuters, July 1, 2026](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-urges-us-handle-taiwan-issue-with-utmost-caution-2026-07-01/) ### Secondary sources - [China's Wang Yi warns Marco Rubio on Taiwan — South China Morning Post, July 1, 2026](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3359077/chinas-wang-yi-warns-marco-rubio-approach-taiwan-affairs-utmost-caution) - [Xi Jinping drops "peaceful" from Taiwan reunification language — The Chosun Daily, July 2, 2026](https://www.chosun.com/english/world-en/2026/07/02/A4DCRPMQLFEPNM7WB7DQXHDD2Y/) - China's Xi Jinping hardens rhetoric on Taiwan — CNBC, July 1, 2026 - [China hardens Taiwan rhetoric under Xi Jinping — Axios, July 1, 2026](https://www.axios.com/2026/07/01/china-taiwan-xi-jinping-speech-rhetoric) --- Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/essai-la-chine-accuse-le-japon-dun-militarisme-irresponsable