Japan's Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that long-range missiles with counterstrike capabilities have been brought into service for the first time at two of its military bases. The deployment of the upgraded Type 12 land-to-ship guided missiles at Camp Kengun in Kumamoto Prefecture, and hyper velocity gliding projectiles at Camp Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, is a significant departure from Japan's post-World War II pacifist stance.

Under Article 9 of its Constitution, Japan is supposed to maintain only the military capabilities necessary for self-defense. However, the deployment of the missiles betrays the country's constitutional commitment to an "exclusively defense-oriented policy". The installation of weapons capable of striking targets up to 1,000 kilometers away indicates a shift toward an offensive posture that poses a huge threat to the security and sovereignty of neighboring countries.

As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning rightly pointed out on Wednesday, such moves go far beyond the scope of legitimate self-defense and its long-standing policy of exclusively defensive defense. They constitute a serious violation of the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender and other documents with international legal force, as well as a grave breach of Japan's own Constitution and established domestic norms.

This tendency once again shows that right-wing forces in Japan are pushing the country's security policy onto an aggressive and expansionist path. That's why many Japanese social groups and individuals have explicitly voiced opposition to these practices. With the missile deployment, Japan's military reach extends far beyond its territorial boundaries, as it is now able to strike much more overseas targets.

It is notable that Japan has now acquired such military capabilities in the context of heightened tensions with China, sparked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous and dangerous remarks last November that a "contingency" in the Taiwan Strait could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan to exercise the so-called "right of collective self-defense".

By explicitly expressing its intent to intervene militarily in the Taiwan question, which is China's internal affair, Japan has in effect issued a de facto threat of force against China by openly challenging the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The sanctions imposed by China on Keiji Furuya, a member of Japan's House of Representatives, for his open support of and collusion with the "Taiwan independence" forces on the Chinese island, as well as the export control measures China has taken against multiple Japanese entities over concerns of Japan's remilitarization, further underscore the gravity of the situation.

Tokyo's attempt to exonerate Furuya by portraying China's "deterrence and warning" as an "intimidation" of "those with differing views" and its smearing of China's justified trade measures as "completely unacceptable" and "absolutely intolerable" suggest that Tokyo has chosen to ignore its responsibility for the heightened tensions.

After a Self-Defense Forces officer illegally broke into the Chinese embassy in Japan with a knife last month, instead of reflecting on the poor management and lack of oversight within the SDF, the Takaichi government has been busy hyping up so-called "external threats" and accelerating its military buildup. This, as Mao said, is an extremely dangerous path. Japan should deeply reflect on its history of militarist aggression, earnestly abide by its military security commitments and act prudently.

Tokyo is quickening the pace of its military buildup. The Takaichi Cabinet in December approved a record military budget plan exceeding 9 trillion yen ($58 billion) for the fiscal year beginning this month, seeking to fortify the country's "strike-back" capability and "coastal defense" with cruise missiles and unmanned arsenals.

Neighboring countries and the international community at large should act decisively to counter this trend in Japan to prevent a repeat of the tragedies of history.

The path forward requires wisdom, foresight and a steadfast commitment to peace.