By Seima Oki

8:00 JST, December 27, 2025

The standoff between Japan and China shows signs of becoming protracted. China has strongly protested Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Nov. 7 response to a question in the Diet, in which she stated that a Taiwan emergency could constitute a “survival-threatening situation,” thereby implying that it would trigger the exercise of Japan’s right of collective self-defense. The Japan side has no intention of retracting her response. Many Japanese government officials predict that it will take several years to resolve this situation.

Why is China so opposed? When Takaichi, a hawkish politician who has visited Yasukuni Shrine every year, won the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election in October and became prime minister, most people expected Japan-China relations to deteriorate. Looking at the current Japan-China conflict, that view turned out to be correct.

However, when Takaichi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in South Korea on Oct. 31, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, they agreed to promote a “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests,” which seemed like a good start. According to a Chinese government source, Xi agreed to meet with Takaichi because China took into account her extremely high approval ratings and the possibility of a long-term administration. It was also because maintaining economic ties with Japan was necessary amid a slowing Chinese economy. After Takaichi won the LDP presidential election, China also viewed her decision not to visit Yasukuni Shrine’s autumn festival as a........

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