China warns Japan that "new militarism" and "Takaichinomics" risk instability.

The People's Daily, a mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, has warned Japan that increased military spending and what the newspaper called a looming "defense bubble" will not save an economy weakened by the falling yen and the Iran war energy crisis, amid a protracted diplomatic dispute between Beijing and Tokyo. In a Tuesday commentary published under the pen name "Zhong Sheng" – a pseudonym used to express Beijing's position on global affairs – the paper said that the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was pursuing a "political gamble" that was "doomed to fail in resolving deep-rooted structural problems." "The Takaichi administration's obsession with militaristic adventurism is by no means a cure for the Japanese economy, but a poison that will accelerate its decay," it said. The piece criticized "Takaichinomics" – a neologism for the Japanese prime minister's economic program – often described as a mix of aggressive public spending and increased investment in defense and economic security. It said that Tokyo was attempting to mask governance failures with arms spending and aggressive fiscal expansion, a strategy that some critics warn could exacerbate the country's massive public debt. The commentary stated that Japan was "under the dual squeeze" of an "oil premium" and a struggling yen, warning that the impact was rapidly spreading from the energy sector to people's daily lives.