Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks

Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten Japan’s survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense. | JIJI

Nov 6, 2026

Tokyo on Saturday will mark one year since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about the possibility of a Japanese military intervention in a Taiwan crisis triggered a diplomatic rupture with Beijing — a rift that shows few signs of closing as the two sides remain stubbornly at odds.

The ongoing dispute between China and Japan began following Takaichi’s remarks in parliament on Nov. 7, 2025, that the Self-Defense Forces could be deployed under the right to collective self-defense in “worst-case” scenarios, such as a Chinese naval blockade of Taiwan, which the prime minister said could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan.

The comments, the first by a sitting prime minister to detail a specific case of how Tokyo might respond to a Taiwan Strait crisis, triggered outrage in Beijing. China claims Taiwan as its own and has vowed to bring the democratic island under its control, by force if necessary.

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