The Japanese Kwantung Army launch a night attack on Beidaying Barracks in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, northeast China, September 18, 1931, triggering the "September 18 Incident." /CFP
For China and victimized nations in the Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia, Japan's intelligence bodies were far more than ordinary administrative agencies. They represented historical symbols intertwined with colonial oppression, wars of aggression and national suffering. Today, Japan is consolidating its fragmented intelligence capabilities to establish a centrally commanded National Intelligence Bureau with ever-expanding overseas intelligence mandates. The high vigilance maintained by Asian nations is no groundless suspicion, but rational precaution rooted in bitter historical experience. The people of Asia will not forget the disasters brought about by Japan's secret police rule in the past, nor will they ignore the expansion of Japan's intelligence system today.
Japanese authorities repeatedly cite purported regional security threats to justify the parallel expansion of intelligence frameworks and military capacity. The lessons of history remain fresh. The precedent of the militarist-era intelligence system fueling wartime mobilization must not be downplayed. Japan ought to face up to its history of aggression, draw profound lessons from the bitter past, cease its efforts to break the constraints of the post-war peaceful order, and abandon building an intelligence system tailored for war preparations.
Peace in the Asia-Pacific region demands collective safeguarding by all parties. Only by squarely confronting history and discarding expansionist thinking, and taking tangible actions to respond to the concerns of its Asian neighbors, can Japan heal historical rifts. Should Japan ignore the warnings of history and keep strengthening an intelligence apparatus with inherent potential for outward expansion, it will only further escalate regional tensions and plant long-term risks to peace in the Asia-Pacific.
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