The remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in her address at Japan's National Defense Academy's graduation ceremony on Saturday, ahead of her planned visit to the United States, have once again rung alarm bells in the region. By exaggerating Japan's "security challenges", claiming the country faces the most "severe and complex" security environment since the end of World War II, Takaichi continued her troubling propensity for militaristic rhetoric and her insistence on pursuing a strategy that will destabilize the Asia-Pacific.

This vocal stance, coupled with the ongoing revision of three key national security documents, marks a blatant departure from Japan's postwar commitment to a "defensive" posture and signals that Tokyo is determined to breach the legal red line of armed forces exclusively for self-defense.

The timing of these remarks is far from coincidental. Takaichi's visit to the US is a calculated move to secure US support for Japan's "defense" agenda. Her Saturday address underscored her government's intention to "fundamentally enhance defense capabilities without excluding any option", a vague yet ominous statement that offers more than a hint of a shift in Japan's posture. This approach, coupled with the ongoing revision of key national security documents, suggests Japan is impatient to break free of the constraints of its postwar defense policy.

Takaichi is also courting the Republic of Korea and the Philippines to cobble together a clique to hijack the "Indo-Pacific" strategy of the US, leveraging US endorsement as a shield to mask her own expansionist "ambitions".

The reality on the ground is already matching her hawkish rhetoric. On Friday, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi confirmed that Japan had received the first delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US and Norwegian-made Joint Strike Missiles, marking a new phase in Japan's long-range strike capabilities. This is just the opening salvo of a massive rearmament program. Based on the 2022 security strategy, Tokyo plans to deploy over 1,000 long-range cruise missiles with a range exceeding 1,000 kilometers.

Such an offensive posture is irreconcilable with Article 9 of Japan's Constitution. But Takaichi, empowered by a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, appears adamant on using her political capital to turn the pacifist Constitution into a hollow shell.

But while Takaichi is eager to solicit US support to boost Japan's regional influence, her government has so far hesitated to agree to the US administration's request for naval escorts in the Strait of Hormuz. This shows the dynamic of the US-Japan alliance.

While the US may appear to hold the dominant position, it has, in reality, long been trapped by Japan's "ambitions": to tacitly condone Japan's military buildup means forfeiting strategic control; to oppose it means undermining the credibility of the alliance — leaving the US caught in an intractable dilemma.

It also reveals Tokyo's calculation: It wishes to use US power to unshackle its own military constraints, yet remains selective about the "burdens" it is willing to shoulder.

The international community must remain vigilant. Japan is using multiple excuses to realize its unjustified military "ambitions", including hyping external threats as a pretext to amend laws, amass armaments and tie itself closer to US geostrategic maneuvers.

What Japan calls "retaliatory capability" is actually the capability to launch direct attacks against targets in neighboring countries. Where exactly is Japan headed? Is exercising the "right of collective self-defense" simply a way of launching aggression?

History serves as a stern reminder that when Japan chooses the path of military expansion, it invariably leads to catastrophe. The lessons from World War II should not be ignored. If Tokyo truly wants to improve Japan's security environment, it should take the initiative to build mutual trust and strengthen its cooperation with neighbors by respecting history in the first place. Security comes from trust, not the warheads of cruise missiles.