Taiwan Remarks Merely Response to Question: Takaichi

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that her recent parliamentary remarks on a possible contingency around Taiwan, which angered China, were merely a response to a question.

"I answered as much as I could to what was asked," Takaichi told Yoshihiko Noda, president of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, during a parliamentary debate of party leaders. It was the first such debate for Takaichi as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Noda criticized the prime minister's remarks as "thoughtless."

At a Nov. 7 House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting, Takaichi said that a contingency around Taiwan could create a situation threatening Japan's survival, which went beyond the government's conventional position on the matter.

During Wednesday's debate, Takaichi said that the government will determine whether a contingency poses an existential threat to Japan on a case-by-case basis, using all available information.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]