Overview
- Kihara Minoru acknowledged the Diet remark about a Taiwan contingency could be read as exceeding the conventional government view, but stressed there has been no shift in policy.
- He said that if statements risk confusion, the government must respond extremely cautiously in future communications.
- At a press conference, Kihara declined to comment on Chinese media criticism of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and said the government would take appropriate measures.
- He noted that past Diet security debates relied on limited case studies, suggesting the prime minister’s example could have been interpreted differently.
- Chinese state outlet Xinhua recently ran a sharply critical piece mocking Takaichi’s name and citing her past Yasukuni visits, and Kihara also declined to comment on President Trump’s related remarks.