Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi Declares Herself an “Anti-China Storm Trooper” to Defend the U.S.
Takaichi’s bellicose rhetoric so early in her tenure is alarming. In sharp contrast, South Korea firmly opposes any military involvement in the Taiwan crisis.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is known for speaking positively about everyone—whether political opponents in Korea, Trump, or others. His understated and underrated conversational style as a trained lawyer, coupled with his unassuming manner, makes him avoid harsh rhetoric.
Responding to a reporter’s question about newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s far-right stance, Lee said his “worries vanished” after meeting Takaichi. “I believe that Prime Minister Takaichi’s thoughts and actions differ when she is an individual politician versus when she bears overall responsibility for managing Japan as a nation.”
With all due respect to President Lee, I beg to differ. Takaichi, “a hard-line ultra-conservative and China hawk,” has taken the lead in anti-China policies, positioning herself as Japan’s “vanguard of anti-China policy” on behalf of Washington. Her confrontational posture threatens to heighten tensions and instability across Northeast Asia.
“Japan’s new leader speaks out on defending the U.S. in a possible China war.”
On November 7, Takaichi—who throughout her political career has consistently refused to apologize for Japan’s historical issues and has condemned China—escalated her rhetoric, detailing the conditions under which Japan might join a U.S. military response should China move against Taiwan.
She has taken an unprecedentedly hardline stance on the Taiwan issue, declaring that any Chinese military action against Taiwan—including a naval blockade—could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. She claimed that Japan’s security laws would justify the use of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to join U.S. military operations in defense of Taiwan.
For the first time, a sitting Japanese prime minister has explicitly linked a Taiwan contingency to Japan’s national survival, signaling a major shift toward potential military intervention in a Taiwan crisis.
Takaichi’s hardline stance is well known—perhaps that is why she became prime minister. She is widely regarded as aligned with the policy direction of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who, in December 2021, said, “A Taiwan contingency is a contingency for Japan.”
For that matter, Japan’s role as Washington’s spearhead against China is hardly surprising. As Tim Shorrock points out, “Since 1955, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, created with the financial backing of the CIA, has been America’s closest and most subservient ally in Asia.”
Over the years, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces has grown to be a “full-fledged invasion force capable of taking part in a future US-led war of aggression.”
“Japan’s defense budget, on its way to being the 3rd largest in the world by 2027, is fueling the growth of what is now the world’s 5th largest military. The Japanese islands host the most extensive overseas deployment of US stealth fighters as part of a sea-air combat force of over 900 warplanes and some 68 naval attack craft. These augment a permanent US military garrison of more than 54,000 personnel. The Japanese Defense Force itself has evolved into a major component of the US global anti-China front, having recently adopted a counter-strike doctrine enabling it to use its rapidly expanding resources to launch attacks on `enemy bases in China and Russia as well as North Korea’.”
Still, Takaichi’s bellicose rhetoric so early in her tenure, when countries in Northeast Asia seek to lay out a new path, is alarming.
After becoming prime minister, Takaichi—whose hobby in her youth was drumming in a hard rock band—has continued to drum up anti-China rhetoric.
On October 26, she attended the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia, stating that “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are directly linked to regional security” and warning against “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo through force or coercion,” clearly targeting China.
On October 31 in Gyeongju, South Korea, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi, as part of the 2025 APEC meetings, held their first summit. During the 30-minute meeting, Xi urged Japan not to antagonize China and to confront its past honestly.
Xi stated, “Currently, China–Japan relations are full of both opportunities and challenges,” adding, “We hope the new Japanese cabinet establishes a correct understanding of China and inherits the efforts and dedication of senior politicians and figures from both countries.”
He emphasized, “We must ensure that the foundation of China–Japan relations is not damaged or shaken,” and added, “‘The Murayama Statement’ reflects Japan’s deep reflection on its history of aggression and apology to the affected countries, and this spirit must be upheld.”
In contrast, Takaichi, without acknowledging past wrongs, advocated anti-China and far-right policies, raising “serious concerns” to Xi on issues including: The East China Sea, including the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands; The detention of Japanese citizens in China; The safety of Japanese nationals in China; China’s actions in the South China Sea; North Korean affairs.
What to make of all this? Here are my takeaways.
(1) The declining U.S. hegemonic power depends on its allies to shoulder the burden of its strategic rivalries and subcontract its war preparation—chief among them, Japan. By empowering figures like Prime Minister Takaichi to advance hardline, U.S.-backed anti-China policies, the United States risks igniting new instability in Northeast Asia. Under Prime Minister Takaichi, a staunch neoconservative and ardent war hawk backed by Washington, Japan has taken the front line in advancing anti–Northeast Asian policies. Her loyalty to Washington—at the expense of regional stability and cooperation with its neighbor, China—combined with her confrontational posture, threatens to heighten tensions and instability across Northeast Asia.
(2) In sharp contrast, President Lee Jae Myung, who was elected by opposing the far right and by leading the people’s Revolution of Light that impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, has reaffirmed his opposition to any military involvement in a Taiwan conflict. The contrast between Takaichi and Lee is day and night.
(3) Despite U.S. pressure shaping geopolitics in Northeast Asia, domestic politics—especially the power of the people to bring about change—still matter. That is yet another reason why the Korean people’s democratic revolution—and its power to challenge hegemonic politics and militarism—the spirit of the Korean people’s resistance from 1910, during the height of Japan’s barbaric colonization and militarism, to 2024, when they stopped Yoon’s martial law backed by the U.S.–Korea far right—deserves full global support and solidarity.
It is time for the people of Northeast Asia and the United States to stand united against far-right militarism and to uphold lasting peace in the region. We must firmly resist Takaichi’s dangerous course of militarism.
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