Munich, Germany, 15 February (H.S.): Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi lambasted Japan on saturday(February 14, 2026), at the Munich Security Conference, warning that ghosts of militarism haunt the nation and decrying Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's rhetoric as a very dangerous development in Asia mere days after her Liberal Democratic Party's landslide Lower House triumph.

Taiwan Trigger and Historical Reckoning

Wang's ire stems from Takaichi's November 7, 2025, parliamentary assertion that a Chinese naval blockade of Taiwan—a survival-threatening situation for Japan—could warrant Self-Defense Forces deployment under collective self-defense rights, prompting Beijing's outrage, tourist advisories, seafood import bans, and rare-earth export threats.

If Japan doesn't truly repent for its wrongdoing, history will only repeat itself, Wang intoned, contrasting Germany's Nazi-era atonement with Japan's veneration of war criminals at Yasukuni Shrine, insisting no Chinese could tolerate such provocation.

Tokyo's Defiant Rejoinder

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi rebutted Wang's panel claims as not based on facts, affirming postwar pacifism and openness to Sino dialogue despite discord, as echoed by Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi's Munich overture for channels amid policy resolve.

Takaichi's two-thirds supermajority emboldens her security agenda—including strategic document reviews by year-end—while she eyes a March 19 Trump summit; Motegi-Rubio sidelines talks solidified alliance deterrence against China and North Korea.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar