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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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China says it is "gravely concerned" after Japan scrapped a long-standing ban on lethal weapons exports in response to what Tokyo called a worsening security environment.
Japan is making "dangerous moves," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, told reporters on Tuesday.
Japan's prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said the country would lift the restrictions to help prevent the "outbreak of conflicts" and safeguard its own security by working with other nations, opening the door for deadly weapons sales with 17 countries sharing defense agreements with Japan.
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"In an increasingly severe security environment, no single country can now protect its own peace and security alone, and partner countries that support each other in terms of defense equipment are necessary," Takaichi said.
Since World War II, Japan has stuck to a pacifist policy, but has become increasingly concerned about China's military build-up, tensions over Taiwan and persistent North Korean nuclear and missile tests.
Tokyo's relations with Beijing have plummeted to their worst point in decades over suggestions that Japan could defend Taiwan if China attacked the island. Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway part of China, while Taipei has asserted its independence.
Although President Donald Trump's administration had said it wanted to turn its attention to the Indo-Pacific and China, the U.S.'s scorn of many of its traditional allies has forced European countries, and countries across Asia relying on the U.S. for their security, to rethink their defense strategies.
The U.S. has also pulled assets from across the globe to the Middle East for its ongoing war against Iran, thought to include interceptor missiles from the Indo-Pacific that would be key for shooting down incoming ballistic missiles from North Korea or China.
Until now, Japanese defense exports had been limited to search-and-rescue equipment, transportation, surveillance and products to detect and neutralize mines.
But China has railed against what it has called "Japanese militarism," stopping its exports of products that could be used for military purposes to Japan earlier this year.
Beijing has also discouraged its citizens from traveling to Japan, a popular tourist destination, with pointed warnings designed to slash income generated by visitors to the country.
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"China will remain highly vigilant and firmly resist Japan’s reckless moves," Guo said on Tuesday.
Japan's constitution effectively prohibited war, and its military is framed as a self-defense force, but Tokyo has been moving slowly away from the constrictive post-war limits for more than a decade.
While criticized by left-wing Japanese lawmakers as threatening stability in a region closely watched by the rest of the world, Japan's top cabinet secretary, Minoru Kihara, said on Tuesday that Tokyo would "uphold its fundamental principles as a peace-loving nation built over more than 80 years."
The Japanese government approved using force to defend its allies under attack in 2014, a step away from a previous block on using the military to solve conflicts apart from in cases of self-defense.
Ten years later, Tokyo greenlit military exports to some countries for an advanced fighter jet that Japan, the U.K. and Italy are currently developing.
Takaichi said Japanese allies had "expressed expectations" around the defense products Tokyo has developed under its previous policy, but did not elaborate.
Many countries are rushing to build up larger militaries, funded by surges in defense spending across the board. European nations are scrambling to get hold of scarce military equipment, while American companies ramp up production in the face of Russia's ballooning military spending and China's vast armed forces.
More than four years of war in Ukraine and over seven weeks of fighting between the U.S., Israel and Iran have drained stockpiles for many of the Western nations Japan sees as allies.
Tokyo has steadily increased its own military spending, with further rises expected.
Japan has also drawn closer to South Korea, itself an increasingly important defense exporter, as Seoul's concerns over North Korea's future military plans deepen and European nations look to rely less on the U.S.
Japan will be able to share parts used by its own military with countries using the same equipment, the Japanese leader said.
Australia, a key U.S. and NATO ally in the Pacific, inked a landmark $7-billion deal to supply Canberra with warships on Saturday.
On Monday, Beijing criticized joint military exercises between the U.S., the Philippines and Japan as sowing "division and confrontation" across the Asia-Pacific region.
The drills, which are conducted annually, started on Monday and will run until May 8. More than half of the 17,000 troops taking part on the exercises are U.S. soldiers, despite the pressure of the war in the Middle East.
Update 4/21/2026 at 7:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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