If China Were to Impose Blockade on Taiwan, Existential Crisis Could Be Triggered, Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi Says

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:17 JST, November 8, 2025

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has asserted that if China were to impose a naval blockade on Taiwan, it could constitute an existential crisis for Japan, as stipulated in the security-related legislation, and that rescuing Japanese nationals would be the top priority.

A House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting was held Friday with all Cabinet ministers in attendance. It was the first session since Takaichi’s Cabinet was inaugurated.

When asked about a scenario in which China imposes a naval blockade on Taiwan, Takaichi said, “It is assumed that [China] will use military force to prevent the arrival of U.S. forces.”

“If it involves the use of military force, it could by all means become a situation of existential crisis,” she said.

In such a crisis, the limited exercise of the right of collective self-defense is possible, allowing the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces for defense as well as the use of force.

“Rescuing Japanese nationals would be the top priority,” the prime minister stressed. “We must also be prepared for the worst-case scenario.”