Photo: Li Aixin/GT

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks on Taiwan question could be deliberate, former Singaporean foreign minister George Yeo told Global Times during the 2025 Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou on Sunday. 

If she uses these words, China is bound to react. Then the Japanese become a bit more nationalistic, then they'll agree to spending more money on military equipment. Maybe it will improve her popularity in Japan, Yeo said. 

Yeo noted his initial reaction was that "the new prime minister was being careless in the way she chose her words," but "the words she used were the words Japan used to justify the invasion of China in 1931."

At a Diet meeting on November 7, Takaichi claimed that the Chinese mainland's "use of force on Taiwan" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan and implied the possibility of armed intervention in the Taiwan Straits.

Yeo told the Global Times that China cannot take it lightly, because when Takaichi said "something affecting Taiwan also affects Japan," it is a position not taken by any other country. She is, in fact, making the defense of Taiwan the defense of Japan.

Yeo also stressed that Japan cannot do anything fundamental without the Americans at least acquiescing to it. "So when US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Takaichi to lower the temperature, it was clear that at his level there was no support."

Japan should only act if the US wants it to act. But if Japan acts on its own, disregarding American interests, the Americans will put a stop to it. And the Japanese prime minister will have to climb down, but she will lose face and she will lose support, Yeo said.