Beijing China on Thursday urged Tokyo to avoid "crippling regional peace and security", after the lower house of Japan's parliament passed bills that could see Japanese troops fight abroad for the first time since World War II. "It is fully justified to ask if Japan is going to g
Beijing
China on Thursday urged Tokyo to avoid "crippling regional peace and security", after the lower house of Japan's parliament passed bills that could see Japanese troops fight abroad for the first time since World War II.
"It is fully justified to ask if Japan is going to give up its exclusively defence-oriented policy", China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.
"We solemnly urge the Japanese side to... refrain from jeopardising China’s sovereignty and security interests or crippling regional peace and stability," Hua said in the statement posted on the ministry's website.
Hua described the passing of the bills as "an unprecedented move since the Second World War".
Japanese forces launched a full-scale invasion of China in 1937 and the wartime history between the Asian powers still heavily colours their relations today.
Beijing -- which is also embroiled in a territorial row with Tokyo over disputed islands in the East China Sea -- regularly accuses the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of showing insufficient contrition for the conflict.
"This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War," Hua said, using China's official name for the Second World War.
