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The government will produce a new defence strategy and accelerate a review of its military export rules, she says
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[TOKYO] Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned of growing Chinese “coercion” in her first post-election speech to parliament on Thursday (Feb 19), and pledged to overhaul the country’s defence strategy, ease curbs on its military exports and strengthen critical supply chains.
Her four-month tenure has been marked by a diplomatic dispute with China, after she said Japan could deploy military force to counter any attack on Taiwan that also threatened its territory.
Upon turning a fragile majority into a landslide victory in February’s Lower House election, she outlined an agenda aimed at countering what she sees as a growing economic and security threat from China and its regional partners.
With more than two-thirds of seats now controlled by her ruling coalition, she faces little resistance to her plans.
“Japan faces its most severe and complex security environment since World War II,” Takaichi said, indicating China’s expanding military activity, its closer security ties with Russia and North Korea’s rising nuclear missile capability.
The government will revise Japan’s three core security documents this year to produce a new defence strategy and accelerate a review of its military export rules to expand the country’s overseas sales and strengthen its defence companies, she added.
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“China has intensified its attempts to unilaterally change the status quo through force or coercion in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” she told lawmakers.
Takaichi has hastened a military build-up launched in 2023 that will double Japan’s defence spending to 2 per cent of its gross domestic product by the end of March.
This will make the country one of the world’s biggest military spenders, despite its pacifist Constitution.
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She also announced plans for a national intelligence council chaired by her to consolidate information gathered across agencies, including the police and the defence ministry.
Japan does not have foreign or domestic intelligence services such as the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Britain’s MI5.
Beyond security, she proposed a Japanese version of the US Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) to screen overseas investment in sensitive sectors, and said that the rules governing land purchases by foreigners will be reviewed.
She pledged to strengthen Japan’s supply chains to reduce dependence on “specific countries”, and work with its allies to secure critical materials – including rare earths – around Minamitori, a remote Pacific island.
Takaichi also promised to speed up restarting the reactors which had idled since the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in 2011.
“A nation that does not take on challenges has no future,” she said in concluding remarks. “Politics that only seek to protect cannot inspire hope.” REUTERS
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MDDI (P) 046/10/2024. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2026 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.
