During a parliamentary session on Nov. 7, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responded to budget committee lawmakers’ questions about Japanese military posture in the event of a China-Taiwan conflict with the expected rhetoric past leaders had used.
Then she was pressed on whether such a conflict would constitute a “survival threatening situation”—a trigger term for military action under a defense statute enacted in 2015 by her mentor, the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Takaichi responded that it would depend on the specifics of the situation, but if naval fighting ensued, it could constitute such a situation.
The island of Taiwan lies about 100 miles off the coast of China. Japan is a nation of several islands, its westernmost territory only 68 miles from Taiwan—half the distance between San Diego and Los Angeles. Japan also hosts 50,000 U.S. troops and several advanced aircraft….
Here’s How the CCP-Japan Feud Escalated
