INTERVIEW: No Need for Japan’s Takaichi to Back Off over Taiwan

Washington, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not need to “back off” despite heightened tensions between Japan and China following her recent remarks about a potential contingency over Taiwan. In a recent interview with Jiji Press, Kenneth Weinstein, Japan chair at the U.S. think tank Hudson Institute, said, “It makes no sense to back off.” The matter “is not an argument about Taiwan,” he said. “It’s a broader argument about the direction of national security strategy in Japan.” “Japan is in a no-win situation,” he also said. “You can’t back down. You have to move forward.” Earlier this month, Takaichi said that a Taiwan contingency could create a situation that threatens Japan’s survival, allowing the country to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Beijing has reacted harshly, urging Chinese citizens not to visit Japan. Weinstein said that Takaichi was “stating the truth that if there is some kind of Taiwan contingency, that could become a national security emergency for Japan.” “Other prime ministers have obfuscated on this issue in the past, but she chose not to,” he said. On the termination of Komeito’s 26-year coalition with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in October, Weinstein said, “The end of the LDP-Komeito alliance means the end of a key kind of leverage that China had over (Japan’s) national security decisions (and) over constitutional decisions through Komeito, which was far more China-friendly than the LDP is.” Komeito has been replaced by Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) as LDP’s new coalition partner. Weinstein said that China is looking to “disrupt the (new) government coalition by imposing economic costs on Japan for the prime minister simply saying the truth.” Beijing is trying to tell Tokyo that “there is a price to pay for standing by Taiwan,” he said. “China is trying to Finlandize Japan and make sure Japan doesn’t take action,” Weinstein said, referring to a process in which a smaller country is forced to pursue neutrality to accommodate the wishes of a very powerful country. “Japan can’t do that,” given the security concerns, he added. While saying that the U.S. government is likely hoping that Tokyo and Beijing will “somehow” work out the issue, Weinstein suggested that such a possibility will be low. “I think a U.S. government statement (over the current Japan-China situation) is inevitable,” he said. “We owe it to the Japanese to stand by them, and we will.” On Takaichi’s refusal to rule out a review of Japan’s three nonnuclear principles, Weinstein said that discussions on the issue would be “very profitable” and “necessary.” “Japan needs to look very seriously at all measures of its own national security and come up with appropriate decisions for its national security, obviously in consultation with the United States,” he said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]