Prime Minister’s Diet Remarks on Taiwan: China Should Not Exacerbate The Issue

Editorial

14:30 JST, November 18, 2025

It is China’s usual tactic to unsettle other countries with hard-line statements that distort facts, in an attempt to create a situation favorable to itself.

Japan must not tacitly accept China’s unilateral criticism of Japan, but must continue to make legitimate protests and sincere efforts to explain. Tokyo should calmly seek solutions through dialogue.

China has launched fierce attacks against Japan in response to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Diet comment regarding a Taiwan contingency.

The matter was triggered by the prime minister saying during a Diet session, in response to a question by an opposition lawmaker, that a blockade of the sea around Taiwan by China “would constitute a survival-threatening situation.” A survival-threatening situation is the criterion by which Japan judges whether to launch the limited exercise of its right of collective self-defense.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed Takaichi’s remarks pose a serious risk to the safety of Chinese nationals and urged its citizens to refrain from traveling to Japan. The Chinese Education Ministry urged students to carefully consider studying in Japan, citing concerns about unstable public safety.

China’s attitude of repeatedly making statements that portray Japan negatively without providing concrete evidence cannot be overlooked.

The Chinese government is demanding the prime minister retract her comment, claiming it violates the 1972 Japan-China Joint Communique, but this is contrary to the facts.

The joint communique states that “Japan fully understands and respects [China’s] stand” that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of China.”

Regarding the communique, then Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira said during a Diet session later in 1972 that the conflict between China and Taiwan was “basically China’s internal affair.” Ohira also said: “I hope the issue will be resolved peacefully. We do not believe there is any possibility of it developing into an armed conflict.”

The joint communique and Ohira’s remarks convey Japan’s hopes for a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue and do not assume unification by force.

Respecting China’s claim regarding sovereignty of Taiwan and Japan’s stance on armed conflict around Taiwan are fundamentally different matters. Japan’s position on this matter has been consistent.

The Japanese government has so far cited a contingency on the Korean Peninsula and a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as possible cases in which it might exercise the right of collective self-defense in a limited manner.

If China were to invade Taiwan by force, the security of maritime transport routes in the East and South China Seas would be threatened. It is self-evident that ensuring maritime security is of vital importance to Japan.

Given these circumstances, China’s claim that Japan is interfering in its internal affairs is more a deliberate misinterpretation than mere misunderstanding. Is it not China itself that is exacerbating the problem?

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 18, 2025)