History Secret military document reveals China prepared for conflict with Japan in 2014

A senior Chinese military officer was already raising strong concerns in 2014 about Japan becoming involved in a conflict over the Taiwan Strait, according to a classified Chinese military document. Zheng Weiping called for preparations for a possible armed confrontation with Japan. His remarks came only months after the administration of PM Abe partially allowed Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defence.

Suzuki Takashi, a professor of Chinese politics at Daito Bunka University's Institute of Oriental Studies, obtained the document. It records proceedings from the All-Army Political Work Conference, held in Fujian Province between October and November 2014.

Suzuki said the document showed that at least some figures in the Chinese military already regarded Japan and the United States as "hypothetical adversaries" in 2014, not long after President Xi Jinping's leadership took office. They were also examining scenarios in which both countries might intervene militarily in a Taiwan contingency, he said. Xi attended the conference. He had become general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of its Central Military Commission in 2012.

The document's section about Zheng is dated Nov. 2, the day the conference concluded. Zheng argued that both large-scale military operations against Taiwan and armed conflicts with Japan "could occur at any moment." He noted that China needed to "firmly secure control of the strategic chokepoint of the Taiwan Strait, incorporate a military struggle against Japan (into its war preparations) and prioritize countering U.S.-Japanese military intervention, thereby ensuring victory in a future decisive battle over Taiwan." Zheng also called for steadily carrying out preparations in the Taiwan theater to "fight informatized local wars at sea where powerful adversaries interfere." In a July 2014 Cabinet decision, the Abe administration allowed the exercise of the right to collective self-defense in situations such as where an armed attack against a country that has close relations with Japan threatens its own survival.

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