Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“When conservative Sanae Takaichi became the new leader of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the country’s prime minister in October 2025, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) clearly was unhappy about that development. Chinese officials became even more annoyed when Takaichi voiced strong support for preserving the de facto independence of Taiwan …. President Xi Jinping’s government responded with vitriol and threats. … However, if Chinese leaders thought that Japanese voters would repudiate their new prime minister and her uncompromising stance toward Beijing, they miscalculated badly. Takaichi gambled by calling a snap election for early February, and the results were a spectacular political success for her and her party.” (02/22/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/on-taiwan-and-japan-chinese-belligerence-backfires/