Taiwan Remarks Merely Response to Question: Takaichi

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that her recent parliamentary remarks on a possible contingency around Taiwan, which angered China, were merely a response to a question. “I answered as much as I could to what was asked,” Takaichi told Yoshihiko Noda, president of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, during a parliamentary debate of party leaders. It was the first such debate for Takaichi as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Noda criticized the prime minister’s remarks as “thoughtless.” At a Nov. 7 House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting, Takaichi said that a contingency around Taiwan could create a situation threatening Japan’s survival, which went beyond the government’s conventional position on the matter. During Wednesday’s debate, Takaichi said that the government will determine whether a contingency poses an existential threat to Japan on a case-by-case basis, using all available information. Meanwhile, Noda expressed his support for a bill jointly submitted by the Democratic Party for the People and Komeito that would tighten the rules on who can receive political donations from companies and other organizations. Avoiding a direct response on the issue, the prime minister urged the CDP leader to support a proposal to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives. The LDP agreed to the proposal as part of its coalition deal with Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party). Elsewhere in the debate, DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki urged Takaichi to accept his party’s request to raise the minimum taxable income level to 1.78 million yen. The prime minister suggested that she would conditionally support this. Komeito head Tetsuo Saito, who took part in the party leaders’ debate for the first time after his party left the LDP-led ruling bloc, expressed opposition to reviewing Japan’s three nonnuclear principles, a goal of the prime minister. Takaichi said that she has not explicitly instructed a review. Sanseito chief Sohei Kamiya also participated in the leaders’ debate for the first time, stressing the need for new legislation on espionage prevention. The prime minister responded that the government will start considering it this year and swiftly draw up a bill. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]