Photo/Illutration The document submitted by the Cabinet Secretariat to Kiyomi Tsujimoto, an Upper House member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (Nobuhiko Tajima)

A released government document confirms that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi went off-script when responding in the Diet to a hypothetical question involving Taiwan that has worsened relations with China.

Kiyomi Tsujimoto, an Upper House member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, submitted a written question regarding whether any draft of a suggested response in the Diet by Takaichi existed.

She received a document from the Cabinet Secretariat by Dec. 12 that had one suggested response being, “I will refrain from responding to a question about a hypothetical military conflict over Taiwan.”

The actual exchange took place on Nov. 7 at the Lower House Budget Committee between Takaichi and Katsuya Okada, a CDP lawmaker who once served as foreign minister.

Takaichi responded to Okada's question, saying, “If naval ships are used in order to use force, that would be a case that can only be considered a survival-threatening situation.”

Under Japan’s national security laws, the Self-Defense Forces can be ordered to exercise the right of collective self-defense if Japan faces a survival-threatening situation.

The document released by the Cabinet Secretariat had a suggested response to a question from Okada that said, “A judgment about what situation represents a survival-threatening situation must be made after the government comprehensively assesses all information in line with the individual and specific circumstances of what has actually occurred.”

Such a response would have been in line with the past views expressed by the government.

Past reporting found that Takaichi’s response was not in line with suggestions prepared by bureaucrats and that the prime minister ad-libbed her response.

Following her comment, China implemented various measures to apply pressure, such as calling on its citizens to refrain from visiting Japan as well as suspending imports of Japanese seafood.

Regarding the worsening ties with China, Tsujimoto said, “(The document) shows that the prime minister’s response was a presentation of her own personal views from the past. This clearly shows that responsibility for the economic loss in relation to China and the military tension that has developed lies with the prime minister herself.”

While Takaichi has not retracted the comment, she has also repeatedly said her administration would follow past government views on the issue, indicating that her Nov. 7 statement would not be made into a new unified government view.

The government may have released the latest document to demonstrate that past government views are being followed.

(This article was written by Nobuhiko Tajima and Haruna Shiromi.)

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