Japan asked the UN to delete a WWII label that still calls it an "enemy state." China said no.
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made the request at the UN General Assembly on September 22. The label sits in UN Charter Articles 53 and 107, written in 1945 to let Allied powers act against Japan and other Axis states without Security Council approval. It has never actually been used.
Here's the twist. In 2005, world leaders including China agreed these clauses were outdated and should be deleted. China voted for that resolution. Twenty years later, deletion still hasn't happened, because it needs approval from all five permanent Security Council members, and China can block it.
China's response this week argued the clauses still matter to prevent a return of "militarism," and accused Japan of glorifying war criminals and expanding its military.
This isn't just history. In November 2025, China cited these same clauses after Takaichi suggested Japan could act if China used force against Taiwan.
So a country that already agreed the label is obsolete is the same country now refusing to remove it.