Takaichi: Survival-Threatening Situation to Be Determined on ‘Case-By-Case Basis’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:35 JST, November 21, 2025

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Friday that what constitutes a survival-threatening situation will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Takaichi spoke to reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office regarding China’s growing backlash toward her remark that a Taiwan contingency could become a survival-threatening situation, which might lead Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense.

The prime minister did not specify whether she would retract her remark. She said that “there is absolutely no change in our policy” of aiming for a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship as well as constructive and stable relations with China.