Japan Has Changed How the World Must Think About Taiwan

Excerpt

A single word can crack the facade of a great power’s confidence.

That’s what happened last month when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan told lawmakers in Tokyo that a Chinese attack or blockade against Taiwan would constitute a threat to Japan’s “survival,” a term that, under Japanese law, would permit the country to deploy its military overseas.

Ms. Takaichi merely said aloud what has long been understood — that a crisis involving Taiwan would threaten Japan’s national security. But her comments were among the clearest public signals yet that Tokyo could help defend Taiwan from potential Chinese aggression.

Craig Singleton is senior director of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank.