Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said about her remarks suggesting intervention in the event of a Taiwan contingency, "I will take it as a point of reflection that it was received as going beyond the government's conventional position and will face future Diet deliberations accordingly." The response came as the Chinese government continues to protest and anti-Japanese sentiment in China intensifies.
According to Japanese media, at the House of Councilors Budget Committee that day, she said of the remarks at the time, "They were the result of discussing with several assumptions mixed in."
Earlier, on the 7th of last month at the Diet, Prime Minister Takaichi, when asked by an opposition lawmaker on a question premised on China invading Taiwan, said, "If warships are used and it involves the exercise of force, no matter how you look at it, this could become a survival-threatening situation (in which the exercise of collective self-defense is possible)."
After these remarks, China rolled out various retaliatory measures, including a Japan-only domain restriction. China maintains that there will be no improvement in relations unless the remarks are withdrawn.
Regarding a withdrawal of her remarks, Prime Minister Takaichi maintained her existing position, saying, "Whether a situation corresponds to a survival-threatening situation will be judged comprehensively according to the circumstances of the situation that actually occurs."
Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the United Nations, at the U.N. Security Council's "Leadership for Peace" meeting on the 15th (local time), called Prime Minister Takaichi's comments on Taiwan "an unforgivable statement that runs counter to the times" and demanded that she retract them.