Is Japan moving further from its pacifist commitment?

It has been 81 years since the guns of World War II fell silent in Asia.

Defeated, Japan in 1945 signed the Instrument of Surrender, accepted all the provisions of the Potsdam Proclamation and swore in its own pacifist constitution to forever renounce war.

This year marks the 81st anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti‑Fascist War.

It raises a stark question: Will Japan continue to honor its commitment? Just look at the timeline of the past year: November 2025 - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told her own parliament that a "Taiwan contingency" could become a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, a trigger for collective self-defense.

Taiwan is part of China.

Such remarks constitute blatant interference in China's internal affairs.

December 2025 - An 18.3 trillion yen supplementary budget enacted for fiscal 2025 included 1.7 trillion yen for security and diplomacy, allowing Japan to bring defense-related spending to its target of 2% of GDP within fiscal 2025, two years ahead of schedule. - Asked about possible revisions to the three non-nuclear principles, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said "all options would be discussed." - The government approved its draft budget for fiscal 2026, with defense spending set at a record high of about 9.04 trillion yen (about 58 billion US dollars).

In just four years, Japan's defense budget has nearly doubled, from 5.4 trillion yen in fiscal 2022 to over 9 trillion yen in fiscal 2026, a record high for the 14th consecutive year.

March 2026 - Japan deployed the Type 25 surface-to-ship guided missile and the Type 25 hypervelocity gliding projectiles in Kumamoto and Shizuoka prefectures, respectively.

It marks the country's first fielding of long-range missiles with "counterstrike capabilities." April 2026 - The Japanese government officially revised the "three principles on transfer of defense equipment and technology" and their implementation guidelines, allowing overseas sales of weapons, including those with lethal capabilities. - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party reaffirmed its push for an early amendment to the country's pacifist constitution, with LDP President Sanae Takaichi declaring that "the time has come." May 2026 - Japan and the Philippines issued a joint statement on May 28, announcing the start of what they called maritime delimitation talks on their exclusive economic zones and continental shelves.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that the area the two countries announced they will delimit is east of China's Taiwan island.