Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (C) attends a cupboard assembly in Tokyo, Japan, September 17, 2026. /Xinhua
Editor’s observe:Â Cao Cong, a particular commentator for CGTN, is a doctoral candidate on the School of Global and Regional Studies, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article displays the creator’s opinions and never essentially the views of CGTN.
A 12 months has handed since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s misguided declare {that a} “Taiwan contingency” might represent a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Tokyo has neither withdrawn the remarks nor meaningfully corrected them. This diplomatic evasion has accompanied an accelerating army buildup, exposing a harmful tendency amongst Japan’s right-wing forces to use regional tensions to dismantle postwar army restraints.
The gravity of Takaichi’s misguided remarks lies of their direct connection between China’s inner affairs and Japan’s train of collective self-defense. They despatched a harmful sign that Japan may intervene militarily over the Taiwan query. Behind this stance is a political calculation: appeasing right-wing supporters at residence whereas evading accountability overseas.
In Takaichi’s view, admitting error would undermine her justification for utilizing the Taiwan query to advance a hardline agenda.She due to this fact expresses willingness to interact in dialogue whereas refusing to handle the foundation causes of the deteriorating relations. Dialogue requires sincerity; higher relations require motion. No quantity of diplomatic rhetoric can restore belief if the celebration accountable refuses to right its errors.
Calls for Takaichi to confront the issue have additionally come from inside Japanese politics. In September, former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama advised the Beijing Xiangshan Forum that Takaichi’s remarks on the Taiwan query departed from Japan’s established place and must be withdrawn. Speaking to reporters following his go to to China, former Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya stated on October 2 that Japan had precipitated the deterioration in bilateral relations and will work severely to restore ties and dispel distrust.
These statements present that the supply of the issue is known inside Japan itself. Takaichi’s continued insistence of her administration’s unchanged place does little to ease doubts about its intentions.
A overview of Japan’s safety coverage developments over the previous 12 months reveals that its remilitarization has materialized in a collection of breakthroughs in budgeting, army gear and institutional frameworks. Its defense-related funds for fiscal 2026 exceeded 9 trillion yen (about $56.79 billion), a document excessive.
On March 31, Japan deployed the Type-25 surface-to-ship missile (SSM) in Kumamoto Prefecture and the Type-25 Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile in Shizuoka Prefecture. The Type-25 SSM has a spread of about 1,000 kilometers – effectively past Japanese territory – and may attain components of the Chinese mainland coast. These deployments marked Japan’s first acquisition of what it calls “counterstrike capabilities,” signaling a shift in its solely defense-oriented coverage and underscoring the hazard of its rising emphasis on long-range strikes.
People protest exterior Japan’s Ministry of Defense in opposition to the deployment of long-range missiles in Kumamoto and Shizuoka prefectures, Tokyo, Japan, March 31, 2026. /Xinhua
Restrictions on arms exports have additionally been additional dismantled. On April 21, Japan revised its Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology and their implementation tips. It eliminated restrictions that typically restricted exports of completed gear to 5 classes, together with rescue and transport. The adjustments permit deadly weapons exports to eligible nations in precept, with exceptions allowing transfers to nations concerned in conflicts.
Japan has additionally strengthened the intelligence equipment supporting its safety coverage. On July 31, it established the National Intelligence Bureau, changing the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. The new physique operates straight beneath the prime minister’s workplace, bringing collectively intelligence from throughout authorities and coordinating companies’ intelligence actions. Against the backdrop of Japan’s army buildup, this focus of intelligence and coordination features might be seen as institutional assist for a extra assertive safety technique.
Even extra alarming is the Japanese authorities’s push to revise its three key safety paperwork by the tip of the 12 months. At associated conferences, Takaichi has confused the necessity to maintain extended fight operations. Calls to rethink the Three Non-Nuclear Principles – to not possess, produce or allow the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory – have additionally persevered, with an unnamed senior safety official within the prime minister’s workplace reported in December 2025 to have advocated Japan buying nuclear weapons.
The mixed results of long-range weapons deployments, expanded arms gross sales and strengthened army cooperation amongst allies will inevitably heighten safety issues amongst neighboring nations and gasoline an arms race. While Japan claims these measures are supposed to take care of peace, they frequently gasoline regional tensions, elevating the query of whom its safety insurance policies really serve.
The Taiwan query is clearly a matter of China’s inner affairs. The Cairo Declaration stipulated that Taiwan, which Japan had stolen, must be restored to China. Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation reaffirmed that “the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out.” Japan pledged to meet the proclamation’s provisions in its Instrument of Surrender and reaffirmed its adherence to Article 8 within the 1972 Joint Statement of the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Japan.
Japan subjected the Taiwan area to half a century of colonial rule. For its chief to hyperlink the Taiwan query as soon as once more to Japanese army motion revives painful reminiscences throughout Asia and challenges the outcomes of the victory over fascism.
A 12 months has made one factor clear: Evasion deepens divisions, and refusing to right errors erodes credibility. Japan ought to withdraw its misguided remarks on the Taiwan query, honor the spirit of the 4 political paperwork between China and Japan, and take concrete steps to curb army enlargement. Only by going through as much as its historical past of aggression, respecting China’s sovereignty and adhering to peaceable growth can Japan really earn the belief of its neighbors.
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Source: CGTN