China condemned Japan's first ever live fire training in the Philippines during the ongoing Balikatan exercises with the United States, noting that its wrong historical views and neo-militarism threatened the peace and stability in the region.

In a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said "as the world marks 80 years of the opening of the Tokyo Trials, not only has Japan, the aggressor, failed to deeply reflect on its historical crimes, it has even sent military forces overseas and fired offensive missiles under the pretext of security cooperation."

"This is yet another example of the Japanese right-wing forces’ push for accelerated remilitarization of Japan. They have repeatedly breached Japan’s exclusively defense-oriented policy and relevant rules in international and domestic laws. Some of their policies and moves have gone far beyond the scope of self-defense," he said.

"The serious lack of education on true history, the fundamentally wrong historical views, compounded by strategies for military rearmament and preparation for war, have led to the malevolent emergence of neo-militarism in Japan and put regional peace and stability under threat," he added.

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) fired its Type 88 surface-to-ship missile during the maritime strike exercise together with Philippine, US and Canadian forces in Ilocos Norte on Wednesday.

The activity was witnessed by Japan Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. while other military officials together with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also monitored it from the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Camp Aguinaldo.

In a statement, the progressive party-list groups in the Philippines claimed that firing of Japanese missiles in the country shows that the Philippines is "becoming a firing range for imperialist powers."

"We in the Makabayan bloc strongly condemn the reported live-fire of Japan’s Type 88 surface-to-ship missile system on Philippine soil during Balikatan 2026, staged at the Paoay Sand Dunes in Ilocos Norte and witnessed by top defense officials. This follows a series of increasingly provocative and dangerous war exercises being hosted by the Marcos Jr. government across the country like the Tomahawk missile testing in Tacloban City airport", it stated.

"This development is a grave escalation. It further normalizes the use of Philippine territory as a testing ground and showcase arena for foreign military capabilities. It also deepens our entanglement in intensifying geopolitical and military rivalries, where the Filipino people stand to lose the most in lives, livelihoods, and national security," it added.

The group also rejected the "administration’s posture of treating these drills as routine interoperability and deterrence".

"The reality is that each additional partner nation brought into Balikatan, each new weapons system fired, and each new site opened for military operations increases the likelihood that the Philippines will be dragged into a wider conflict not of our making," it explained.

"We call on the Marcos government to revoke any consent it has granted that enables foreign forces to conduct live-fire missile launches and similar offensive drills in the country," it stated.

"We also urge Congress to immediately review all implementing arrangements, permissions, and clearances that allowed Japan’s missile firing in Ilocos Norte, and to scrutinize the broader trajectory of Balikatan as it expands into more complex and more dangerous warfighting scenarios," the group added. Robina Asido/PHS