Chinese minister urges vigilance

Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) yesterday urged nations to avoid provocative acts and curb the resurgence of regressive historical trends in remarks likely to be taken as veiled criticism of Japan.

Warning that the world had arrived at a “fragile moment,” Dong called for a fresher, more equal approach to resolving international tension, but offered few specifics or direct criticism of rivals.

“We must bear in mind the lessons of history and remain highly vigilant against all latent manifestations of hegemony, militarism and historical revisionism,” he said in an opening speech at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum on security.

Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun attends the opening ceremony for the Beijing Xiangshan Forum yesterday.

Photo: Reuters

“We must not turn a blind eye or condone such behavior. By rallying broad-based forces of justice, we must suppress the resurgence of historical dregs and prevent them from exploiting the situation to cause harm,” he said.

Ties between China and Japan soured last year after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response.

That spurred Beijing to repeatedly warn that Japan was seeking a return to its militarist past, which included the Japanese occupation of northeast China’s Manchuria in 1931 before a full war between the then-Republic of China and Japan.

About 2,000 military officers, diplomats and academics from 100 countries are attending the three-day event set to run until today, with delegates including some regional defense ministers, a senior Pentagon official, Russian academics and Taliban representatives.

As some analysts predicted, Dong steered clear of direct criticism of the US or its regional allies, such as Japan, and appeared to hew closely to long-held Chinese positions.

Dong urged efforts toward a peaceful, multipolar world marked by “partnership rather than alliance, win-win rather than zero-sum.”

“We must show no leniency toward provocative acts that seek to hijack the overall interests of countries in the region for the sake of personal gain or the interests of particular cliques,” he added.