Playing on words will by no means whitewash Japan's moves of rearmament, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday, after a spokesperson for Japan's Defense Ministry recently made relevant erroneous remarks.

In response to a query at a daily press briefing, Mao said Japan packages overseas military deployment as exercising the rights to collective self-defense, glosses over its buildup of offensive capabilities as acquiring counterstrike capabilities and covers up its exports of lethal weapons with the so-called "equipment technology cooperation."

Japan's justification for its behavior is better characterized as evasion and denial, which is nothing but camouflage for remilitarization, said Mao.

The Japanese side has been mum about the militarist invasion and war crimes, still less Japan's obligations under international law. To this day, Japan remains unrepentant over its dark history, Mao added.