China warns Japan to keep their promise on its WWII surrender

BEIJING - Chinese scholars warned Japan "must be locked into the 'cage' of international laws and its constitution," reacting to a series of Japan's recent breaches of its post-war security policy.

This July marks the 70th anniversary of the Potsdam Proclamation, a document issued by China, the United States and Britain on July 26, 1945 in demand of Japan's unconditional surrender in WWII and was accepted by Japan in the 1945 Japanese Instrument of Surrender.

However, in the same month, conservative forces in Japan represented by Abe's administration made the most significant overturn of its promise of a "purely defensive" military posture, a promise that Japan made at its surrender.

Japan's ruling coalition forced the passage of controversial security bills amid strong public opposition, which enables Japan to engage in wars overseas, posing a threat to the existing world order today.

Thus, at a press briefing held by the State Council Information Office on Thursday, scholars with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) briefed the media about the Potsdam Proclamation terms and reiterated its important significance to the establishment and maintenance of the world order.

Zhao Jianwen, researcher with the Institute of International Law under CASS, underlined the sixth term of the document, saying that it demanded Japan eliminate militarism, both politically and mentally, which later became a core spirit of the ninth article of the Constitution of Japan.

The constitution reads "Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes."

"Japan should and must be locked up forever by the cage of the international law and its constitution," said Zhao.

However, what has been done by Abe's administration shows otherwise.

"The current Japanese government has adopted a wrong attitude towards history and deliberately violated the laws," noted Lyu Yaodong, researcher with Institute of Japanese Studies under CASS.

Lyu also added that the Potsdam Proclamation constituted the cornerstone of the post-war peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region and Japan recognizing the document was the precondition of the normalization of China-Japan relations.

"China, together with all the countries that have suffered a lot from the war, strongly urges Japan to carry out the Potsdam Proclamation terms and keep its promise." said Lyu.