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Chinese FM slams Japan's reported first export of lethal weapons, attempt to change three non-nuclear principles

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Nov 21, 2025 04:06 PM

When asked to comment on reports that the Japanese government had recently completed the re-export of Patriot missiles to the US — the first export of lethal weapons since Japan relaxed its arms-export restrictions — and that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was discussing revisions to three security policy documents, including changes to the three non-nuclear principles and increased defense spending, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday that after the victory of World War II, international legal documents such as the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Instrument of Surrender clearly defined Japan's obligations as a defeated nation, including complete disarmament and a prohibition on maintaining industries that could enable rearmament, according to thepaper.cn.

However, in recent years, Japan has continued to loosen these constraints on itself — expanding its military capabilities, increasing its defense budget for 13 consecutive years, passing new security legislation to lift the ban on collective self-defense, and revising the "Three Principles on Arms Exports" into the "Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology," thereby continually relaxing its weapons-export restrictions and even beginning to export lethal weapons, said Mao.

Mao noted that although Japan claims to seek a world free of nuclear weapons, it has significantly strengthened its cooperation on extended deterrence and is even considering revising its three non-nuclear principles — no manufacturing, possession, or introduction of nuclear weapons — paving the way for possible nuclear-sharing arrangements. These developments show that Japan is moving beyond "exclusive defense" and accelerating its rearmament, the spokesperson said.

"People cannot help but ask: what is Japan really trying to do? If Japan seeks to return to the old path of militarism, abandon its commitment to peaceful development, and undermine the post-war international order, the Chinese people will not tolerate it, the international community will not allow it, and it can only end in failure," Mao said.