Japan Nixes U.S. Assessment of Its Policy Shift on Taiwan

Japan rejected a US assessment that its stance on how it might respond to a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan marked a “significant shift,” an issue that could cloud an imminent leaders’ summit between Tokyo and Washington, Chang-Ran Kim and John Geddie reported for Reuters.

The differing views could cast a pall over Takaichi’s summit with US President Donald Trump. (Photo: PM’s Office of Japan X)

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments late last year that a hypothetical attack on Taiwan could prompt a military response from Tokyo drew a furious reaction from Beijing, which views the island as its own territory.

While Takaichi has maintained her remarks were in line with Japan’s longstanding policies, an annual report by US intelligence agencies said they sharply departed from the rhetoric of previous Japanese leaders.

“The assessment that there has been a major shift is not accurate,” Japan’s top government spokesperson, Minoru Kihara, told a press briefing recently.

Tokyo’s position on judging a so-called “existential crisis situation”—which Takaichi was addressing in parliament when she made her November remarks—is consistent with past policy, he added.

The differing views could cast a pall over Takaichi’s summit with US President Donald Trump, already complicated by his demands for Japan and other allies to send escort ships to the Strait of Hormuz, largely closed due to the Iran war.

Relations between China and Japan have fallen to their lowest level in over a decade since Takaichi’s remarks, with Beijing urging its citizens not to travel to Japan and restricting some key exports.