Last weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made some bold claims about Japanese security practice at the Munich Security Conference. He declared that Japan is clinging to the “ghost of militarism” and paying homage to past atrocities while harboring ambitions for restoring colonial rule over Taiwan.

While many might see this rhetoric and brush it off as nothing more than “wolf warrior” bluster from another Chinese official, these kinds of comments still do resonate with certain groups. This has even included some individuals within Japan’s partner governments who find themselves working in or with Tokyo on matters of policy significance — something I have personally contended with on rare but notable occasions as a government and military practitioner.

Some people read the sensationalist headlines and look at visits to Yasukuni Shrine, the desire to amend the Constitution and the goal of bolstering national defense as nothing more than products of militarist ideology — as if the fundamental goal for Japanese society is to bring back the days of the imperial military.

© The Japan Times