Japan’s alliance with the United States would collapse if Tokyo turned a blind eye as US forces were attacked in joint operations in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday.
“If something serious happens there, we would have to go to rescue the Japanese and American citizens in Taiwan. In that situation, there may be cases where Japan and the US take joint action,” Takaichi said in her latest elaboration of Japan’s potential military involvement in case of a Taiwan conflict.
“And if the US forces, acting jointly with us, come under attack and Japan does nothing and simply runs away, the Japan-US alliance would collapse.
“So we would respond strictly within the limits of the law – within the limits of the laws as they currently exist – while making a comprehensive judgment based on what is happening on the ground.”
The latest remarks were made on a Japanese television programme on Monday night as Takaichi was pressed by opposition parties to elaborate on or retract the remarks she made in November about a “Taiwan contingency” scenario, which plunged Tokyo’s relations with Beijing to their lowest level in over a decade.
During a parliamentary session on November 7, a week after her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, Takaichi said that a cross-strait attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, justifying the mobilisation of its armed forces.
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