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China warns Kishida about pacifist Constitution amendment
Earlier Monday, Kishida pledged to push forward efforts toward swiftly proposing the controversial revision of the nation's US-drafted Constitution including the war-renouncing article, while China has claimed the move would lead to Japan's remilitarization.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin takes a question at the Foreign Ministry briefing in Beijing on November 9, 2020. (AFP/Greg Baker)
C
hina on Monday warned the government of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida about amendment of the country's pacifist Constitution, a day after his ruling Liberal Democratic Party won a sweeping victory in the House of Councillors election.
Earlier Monday, Kishida pledged to push forward efforts toward swiftly proposing the controversial revision of the nation's US-drafted Constitution including the war-renouncing article, while China has claimed the move would lead to Japan's remilitarization.
"The issue of Japan's constitutional amendment has received high attention from the international community and its Asian neighbors due to historical reasons," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing.
"We hope that Japan will earnestly learn the lessons of history, adhere to the path of peaceful development and take concrete actions that would win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community," Wang added.
Through the election, Kishida's LDP, together with other pro-constitutional revision forces, retained a two-thirds majority in the upper house.
Initiating a constitutional amendment requires two-thirds majorities in both Diet chambers, followed by a majority in a national referendum. The pro-constitutional revision forces currently hold a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives.
Japan invaded Korea and a huge swath of China before the end of World War II that lasted until 1945.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations. Japan cut diplomatic ties with the democratic island Taiwan and established them with the Communist-led mainland China in 1972.
Recently, relations between the two Asian powers have become further frayed as they have been at odds over self-ruled Taiwan, which China has regards as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 as a result of a civil war.
