Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Sunday criticized Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent erroneous remarks on China’s Taiwan as going “too far” and “dangerous,” local media reported.
At a party meeting in Nagasaki Prefecture, Noda, now leader of main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), said Takaichi “went too far” and relations between Japan and China have reached a very tense situation, Kyodo News reported.
“It seems she thinks she is popular with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party supporters. I think it is even more dangerous,” Noda said of Takaichi.
On a Fuji TV program on Sunday, CDPJ policy chief Satoshi Honjo said that Takaichi’s Diet responses “show a lack of understanding of the security legislation,” and that her awareness of the Chinese mainland’s positioning regarding Taiwan was also insufficient, according to the report.
At a Diet meeting on November 7, Takaichi claimed that a Taiwan emergency involving the use of military vessels and military force from the Chinese mainland could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. According to legislation, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces could exercise the right of collective self-defense if such a situation is recognized as “survival-threatening.”
Takaichi later insisted that her remarks were in line with the government’s longstanding view, and she had no intention to retract the remarks.
