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Japan has sent an envoy to China. They want to ease a disagreement over Taiwan, which comes early in the administration of Japan's first female prime minister. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports.
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: The dispute began earlier this month when lawmakers asked Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about a scenario in which China takes military action against the self-governed island of Taiwan. She replied...
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PRIME MINISTER SANAE TAKAICHI: (Through interpreter) If warships are used accompanied by the exercise of military force, then however you look at it, it could be a situation posing an existential threat to the country.
KUHN: Japan's post-World War II constitution forbids it from waging war. But security legislation passed in 2015 allows it to defend itself if it or a close ally such as the U.S. comes under an attack that threatens Japan's survival. China, meanwhile, will not rule out the use of military force if Taiwan declares independence or in case of foreign interference.
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LIN JIAN: (Non-English language spoken).
KUHN: "Japan must immediately correct and retract its vile remarks," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said last week. Otherwise, Japan must bear all the consequences. China's consulate general in Osaka, Xue Jian, used much stronger language in a social media posting. He wrote that, quote, "the filthy head that recklessly intrudes must be cut off without a moment's hesitation." The posting was later deleted. On Friday, China applied economic pressure. Its government warned that Takaichi's provocative remarks have made Japan less safe, and Chinese should not visit Japan anytime soon. Japanese media report that Tokyo has sent an envoy to reassure Beijing that there's been no change in Japan's official policies. One policy has been to be intentionally ambiguous about what Japan would do in a Taiwan scenario. Some observers fear that less ambiguity would make Japan less safe, but...
ADAM LIFF: I think it's pretty unlikely that we'll see Japan move away from this long-standing position of effective strategic ambiguity.
KUHN: Adam Liff is a professor of East Asian international relations at Indiana University, Bloomington.
LIFF: What she said was a situation could - not would, but could - constitute a survival threatening situation. So that distinction between would and could is really fundamental to strategic ambiguity.
KUHN: Liff says that given Taiwan's proximity to Japan's Southwest Islands and its alliance with the U.S., a conflict over Taiwan would be a big deal for Japan's security and for any Japanese leader. But Keio University Professor Emeritus Yoshihide Soeya says Takaichi appears to be trying to please a narrow political base of hard-line conservatives.
YOSHIHIDE SOEYA: Only a select group of supporters should be happy about this statement, and I think that Takaichi should know that. And in that overall context, it's a reckless statement for Japanese prime minister to say this.
KUHN: Approval ratings for Takaichi and her cabinet are high at nearly 70%. But a weekend poll by Japan's Kyodo news agency found that about 49% of respondents think Japan should exercise its right to self-defense in case of a Taiwan conflict, while some 44% oppose it. Soeya adds that Takaichi's remarks appear to squander the diplomatic gains she made just last month when she met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea and agreed to keep ties between Tokyo and Beijing stable and constructive. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul.
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