At the regular press conference on June 3, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning took questions from journalists. One reporter asked: After China criticized remarks concerning China made by Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on June 1, a spokesperson for Japan’s Ministry of Defense responded at a press conference yesterday, claiming China had repeatedly put forward groundless assertions. What is your comment on this?
Mao Ning said the so-called "facts" cited by Japan, which evade key issues and engage in self-deception, are nothing but a disguise for its remilitarization. Shying away from its crimes of militarist aggression and expansion as well as its relevant obligations under international law, Japan has never conducted an in-depth reflection on its wartime past. Instead, it has sought to dispatch troops overseas under the guise of the right to collective self-defense, beefed up offensive military capabilities under the pretext of developing counterstrike capacity, and covered up exports of lethal weapons via equipment and technology cooperation. It attempts to mislead its own public and the international community through deliberate semantic manipulation.
"Figures speak for themselves, and no amount of semantic trickery can whitewash Japan’s actual moves to expand its armaments and military buildup. The more Japan tries to cover things up, the higher vigilance the international community ought to maintain," Mao Ning stressed.
