CaliToday (09/12/2025): The shadow of the Second World War loomed large over Asia today as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a blistering diplomatic rebuke to Japan, weaponizing history to justify a dangerous military escalation in the East China Sea.
Speaking to his German counterpart on Tuesday, Wang Yi warned that Tokyo is "militarily threatening China," a statement that flips the script on a perilous encounter involving a radar lock-on incident that has sent shockwaves through the region.
1. The Incident: A Near-Miss in the Miyako Strait
The diplomatic war of words stems from a tangible and volatile military encounter.
Japan’s Accusation: Tokyo alleges that a Chinese fighter jet directed its fire-control radar—a step usually taken immediately before firing a missile—at a Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) aircraft. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara condemned the act as "extremely dangerous, completely unnecessary, and exceeding safe norms."
China’s Counter-Narrative: Beijing flatly rejected this characterization. Instead, they accused the JSDF of intentionally "intruding and harassing" a Chinese naval flotilla that was conducting a pre-announced exercise in the Miyako Strait, a critical strategic choke point.
2. Wang Yi’s "Defeated Nation" Doctrine
In his call with the German Foreign Minister, Wang Yi did not merely address the tactical incident; he invoked the moral hierarchy of 1945.
With 2025 marking the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II, Wang Yi declared that Japan, as a "defeated nation," should behave with greater humility and caution.
"The current Japanese leadership is exploiting the Taiwan issue—land that Japan once unlawfully occupied—to provoke and threaten China. History and international law have long settled that Taiwan is Chinese territory," Wang stated.
This rhetoric serves a dual purpose: it delegitimizes Japan's current security concerns by tying them to its imperialist past, and it frames any Japanese support for Taiwan not as defense of democracy, but as a revival of colonial ambition.
3. The Takaichi Doctrine: A Red Line on Taiwan
The tension has been exacerbated by the hawkish stance of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. She recently issued a stark warning that Tokyo views a Chinese military move against Taiwan as an existential threat to Japan’s own security—implying that the JSDF would not sit idly by.
For Beijing, this linkage is unacceptable. By painting Japan as the aggressor, Wang Yi is attempting to preemptively neutralize international support for Japan’s potential intervention in a Taiwan Strait crisis.
4. Analysis: "The Wolf and the Lamb" Strategy
Defense analysts observe that Beijing is employing a classic geopolitical variation of Aesop’s fable, The Wolf and the Lamb.
The Paradox: China is using historical guilt and claims of sovereignty to justify its own modern military expansion. By accusing Japan a nation with a pacifist constitution of being the "aggressor," China attempts to validate its own coercive behavior.
Strategic Gaslighting: This is a tactic of diplomatic projection. China creates a hazardous situation (the radar lock-on), waits for the reaction, and then frames the reaction as a threat that justifies further Chinese militarization.
The Blowback: However, this strategy appears to be backfiring. Instead of cowering, the incident is providing political ammunition for Prime Minister Takaichi to accelerate Japan’s rearmament.
Conclusion
Far from ensuring stability, Beijing’s "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy is validating the fears of Tokyo's conservatives. By treating 2025 Japan as if it were 1945 Imperial Japan, China is inadvertently pushing its neighbor to shed its pacifist constraints and become the very military power Beijing claims to fear.