China on Thursday expressed concern over the possibility that Japan will try to reinterpret its pacifist Constitution so that its military can defend other countries.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China has "full reasons to be highly vigilant about Japan's true intentions and its future development" due to its neighbor's violent past.
"We urge Japan to face up and reflect on its history, and respect the security concerns of regional countries," Hua said at a daily press briefing.
She made the comments when asked about the security panel recommendations submitted Thursday to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on lifting Japan's constitutional ban on using collective self-defense.
The Japanese government's current interpretation of the war-renouncing Constitution prohibits the country from allies under armed attack.
The panel, headed by former Japanese Ambassador to the United States Shunji Yanai, made the proposal amid China's increasingly assertive actions in the region and North Korea's nuclear threats.
Abe's efforts to let the Self-Defense Forces legally play a bigger role in international security have repeatedly been criticized by China and South Korea, both of which have been on the receiving end of Japanese military aggression.
But U.S. President Barack Obama gave support to Japan's move toward rethinking the ban on collective self-defense when he held talks with Abe in Tokyo in late April. The ban is a result of the government's current interpretation of Article 9 of the postwar Constitution, which was drafted by the Allied powers.