TOKYO, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) — Japanese public figures throughout the political and educational spectrum gathered in Tokyo on Thursday to protest Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s faulty remarks on Taiwan, warning that her feedback and her administration’s push for army growth threat heightening regional tensions and drawing Japan into conflict.
At the gathering, former prime minister Yukio Hatoyama mentioned Takaichi’s actions undermine the 1972 Sino-Japanese Joint Statement, which led to a severe deterioration in bilateral relations.
“Japan has historically learned a great deal from China and absorbed much of its culture. That deep connection is the foundation of today’s Japan,” Hatoyama informed reporters.
Japan ought to keep pleasant relations with China and construct a stable basis of mutual belief; nonetheless, present bilateral ties face grave difficulties, making a correction in course urgently obligatory, he mentioned.
Kazuhiko Togo, a world politics scholar and former diplomat, mentioned Japan’s nationwide aim needs to be to stop conflict in East Asia.
Diplomacy, he mentioned, is just not about unilateral declarations however about understanding the opposite aspect’s place and backside strains when clarifying its personal place and formulating coverage.
Togo known as on the brand new authorities fashioned after the election to appropriately perceive China and work towards peaceable coexistence between the 2 international locations.
Many audio system on the gathering raised alarm over a sequence of army growth insurance policies promoted by Takaichi since taking workplace beneath the banner of nationwide safety.
Masakatsu Adachi, emeritus professor on the Kanto Gakuin University, informed reporters that the Takaichi administration is in search of to overturn current safety paperwork, sharply improve protection spending and has even floated the thought of nationalizing the protection trade.
He identified that Takaichi’s repeated references to a “survival-threatening situation” stem straight from her army growth agenda.
Yuko Tanaka, former president of Hosei University, mentioned Takaichi’s phrases and actions are eroding Japan-China relations constructed since 1972. She warned that sustained will increase in army spending may pressure the financial system, have an effect on individuals’s livelihoods and probably set off a brand new financial disaster.
“From every perspective, worsening relations with China will only bring negative consequences for Japan,” Tanaka mentioned.
As the detrimental impression of deteriorating Japan-China ties turns into more and more seen in Japanese society, Takaichi immediately dissolved the House of Representatives on Jan. 23 and known as a snap election, a transfer aimed toward reshaping the political panorama in a means favorable to her continued rule.
The determination has drawn robust concern from members on the rally. Takakage Fujita, the secretary-general of the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement, mentioned Japan is heading down an “extremely dangerous road” by prioritizing army growth.
He argued that dissolving the decrease home was meant to consolidate Takaichi’s political base and proceed to push the so-called “path to military power.”
Fujita mentioned that after Takaichi’s Taiwan-related remarks in November 2025 sparked widespread controversy, she once more made faulty feedback on a “Taiwan contingency” in a current tv look, indicating that she was appearing intentionally regardless of being totally conscious of the dangers.
Kumiko Haba, professor emeritus at Aoyama Gakuin University, mentioned Takaichi has sought to reverse her political drawback by way of an early election slightly than retract her remarks.
She warned that if Takaichi and different right-leaning events have been to safe a two-thirds majority within the Diet, they might even push for revision of the Constitution, additional paving the way in which for conflict.
She added that as generations with direct expertise of conflict move away, the danger of battle is growing, making it important for youthful generations to see by way of Japan’s repeated portrayal of a “China threat” and acknowledge the place the actual risks lie.