Overview
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met Nippon Ishin co-leader Fumitake Fujita and reaffirmed pursuing a reduction in House of Representatives seats under their coalition agreement.
- Fujita said both parties expressed a strong intent to honor the pledge and discussed details for legislation they aim to submit in the current Diet session.
- Japanese Communist Party secretary-general Akira Koike urged the prime minister to retract her Taiwan-related Diet answer, calling it extremely dangerous and harmful to Japan–China relations.
- The Foreign Ministry’s Asia–Oceania Bureau director, Masaaki Kanai, was scheduled to visit China on November 18 for consultations intended to calm tensions over the Taiwan remarks.
- Reflecting the strain, Shimonoseki’s mayor abruptly canceled a planned November 18–20 business trip to China, with the city citing that circumstances had become unfavorable.