Chinese Foreign Minister Wang warns that Japan has not learned from history and is trying to resurrect war criminals

According to the statement made by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Wang received Takeshi Ivaya, President of Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade (JAPIT), who visited his country, in Beijing.

During the meeting, Wang reminded that this year is the 80th anniversary of the Tokyo Trials, where Japanese war criminals were tried after the Second World War, and said, "If Japan does not learn from history and challenges the post-war 'Peace Constitution', tries to bring back its past of aggression and resurrect war criminals, it will not be able to turn its face to the world, let alone move towards the future, and it will have no future." he said.

The Chinese Minister said, "The urgent task for Japan is to correct the erroneous words and actions of its leaders on the Taiwan issue, take the correct attitude towards historical problems, and have a rational and objective understanding of China." he said.

Tension between China and Japan

Wang's remarks are seen as an extension of the diplomatic tension between Beijing and Tokyo that began with the words of Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, who raised the possibility of military intervention in Taiwan, which is in a sovereignty dispute with China.

Prime Minister Takaiçi's words at the Japanese Parliament Diet session on November 7, 2025, that he would consider the intervention in the Taiwan Strait as "a situation that threatens the existence of his country" and that he could use military force, led to the reaction of China, which sees the region as part of its territory.

In Takaichi's words, for the first time, a Japanese Prime Minister made a clear statement that Japan would be involved militarily in the event of an invasion of Taiwan, and showed a different attitude from the "strategic uncertainty" policy adopted by the country on this issue.

Following the reactions, the Japanese Prime Minister stated that his words regarding Taiwan were hypothetical and that he would avoid such comments in the future, but refused to take back his words.

The Beijing administration gave a protest note to Japan due to Takaiçi's words, and the crisis followed a course ranging from travel warnings to flight cancellations, from blocked concerts to import bans, from political polemics to military frictions.

On the other hand, the leaders and politicians of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan sending offerings and visiting the controversial Yasukuni Temple, where the graves of high-ranking soldiers tried for war crimes in the Second World War are located, provokes a reaction from China.