Prime Minister of Japan Sanae Takachi during a debate of party leaders in the upper house of parliament in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. Takachi said he did not intend to go into any details of Taiwan’s contingency in recent comments, which have been fiercely criticized by China.
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Japan on Thursday rejected a US intelligence assessment He said Prime Minister Sanae Takachi’s comments on Taiwan represented a “significant change” for the current Japanese prime minister.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters during this time a press conference Tokyo’s approach remains “fairly consistent”.
“There are no significant policy changes that are happening right now,” Kihara said, according to a translation provided by the prime minister’s office.
The response came in the form of Takaichi reached America The Iranian conflict is expected to dominate the summit meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Takaichi drew a sharp reaction from Beijing in November when he told parliament that a Chinese attempt to seize Taiwan by force could prompt intervention by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.
China responded by suspending seafood imports and issuing travel advisories to its citizens not to travel to Japan, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of Chinese tourists to the country.
intelligence reportThe edition, issued on March 18, said that Takaichi’s description of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan – as an “existential threat” to Japan – was of significance.
The term could open the door for Japan to intervene under a 2015 reinterpretation of its constitution, which allows Japan’s military to engage in “collective-self-defense” to protect allied forces under certain scenarios.
The US report also said that “China is exerting multidomain coercive pressure that will likely intensify by 2026, aimed at punishing Japan and deterring other countries from making similar statements about their potential involvement in the Taiwan crisis.”
However, the intelligence community also assessed that Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027.
Beijing considers democratically ruled Taiwan part of its territory and has not ruled out using force against the island. Taiwan, for its part, rejects those claims and says only it can decide its future.
power politics
Earlier on Wednesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said peaceful reunification with Taiwan would benefit the island, including improving the security of Taiwan’s energy resources “supported by a strong motherland.”
It came as Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-tey sought to ease concerns over its energy reserves he supplies There is “100% status” for Taiwan for the next two months. He said Taiwan intends to increase gas imports from the US to meet domestic energy demand.
According to the Energy Administration of Taiwan, 95.8% of it energy Was imported in 2024. Saudi Arabia and the United States each accounted for about 30% of crude oil imports.
Taiwan receives 38% of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Australia, with about a quarter coming from Qatar.
Imported coal accounts for 29.1% of Taiwan’s energy supply, with about half from Australia and only 0.03% from China. Taiwan did not import any crude oil or LNG from China that year.