BEIJING (Dispatches) - Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun has said that countries around the world should cease provocative acts and check the resurgence of regressive historical trends.
Dong made his remarks, likely to be taken as veiled criticism of Japan, on Wednesday while opening the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum. In a broad speech, he urged a fresh, more inclusive approach to resolving international tensions, though he offered few specifics or any direct criticisms of rivals.
“We must bear the lessons of history in mind and remain highly vigilant against all latent manifestations of hegemony, militarism and historical revisionism,” Dong said.
“We must not turn a blind eye or condone such behavior. By rallying broad-based forces of justice, we must suppress the resurgence of historical dregs,” he added.
The forum is being held amid heightened regional tensions over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea, as well as growing doubts about traditional U.S. security commitments to Asia.
Dong’s address built on comments made earlier while meeting visiting foreign guests. In separate sit-downs with defense officials from Myanmar, Brunei, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, as well as ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, Dong pitched a vision of deeper military cooperation and shared security as an immediate curtain-raiser for the forum.
As some analysts predicted, Dong did not make direct criticisms of the United States or its regional allies, including Japan.
Ties between China and Japan plummeted after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response, prompting repeated warnings from Beijing that Japan is seeking a return to its aggressive past.
Earlier, a Chinese scholar attending the forum warned that Japan’s growing involvement in the South China Sea could undermine regional peace over the long term.