Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Friday that the government's position on Taiwan has not changed, a year after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the Diet that a Taiwan contingency could amount to a survival-threatening situation for Japan.
The remark, made in November last year, drew a sharp backlash from China and sent Japan-China relations into a rapid decline. Asked about it at a press conference on Friday, Kihara said the government decides whether any situation qualifies as a survival-threatening situation — a legal category that can justify military action — by weighing all available information against the specific circumstances of what has actually occurred.
"There is no change whatsoever in the government's position on Taiwan," he said. He avoided saying whether Tokyo would meet China's demand that the remark be withdrawn.
Kihara also said China is an important neighbor and that Japan wants to build a constructive, stable relationship, pursuing a comprehensively strategic, mutually beneficial relationship and communicating on shared issues.
China is due to host an APEC summit meeting in mid-November. Asked whether a Japan-China leaders' meeting would be held alongside it, Kihara said only that he would refrain from speaking with any preconceptions.