Japan Ready to Use Military Force Against China

Japan has issued its clearest warning yet that it will militarily respond if China launches an attack on Taiwan — a dramatic shift that has pushed tensions in East Asia to their highest point in years.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, speaking in the Japanese parliament earlier this month, said any Chinese military action against Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan.

Under Japan’s security laws, that designation gives the government legal authority to deploy its Self-Defense Forces in collective defence — effectively signalling Japan’s readiness to fight.

Takaichi’s comments, delivered with unusually blunt language in the Diet, stunned Beijing and triggered a wave of diplomatic and economic retaliation from China.

Japan has since ordered heightened military alertness, increased maritime and air monitoring around the Ryukyu chain — including waters close to Taiwan — and quietly begun mobilisation planning with its defence partners.

Senior officials have also briefed the media that Japan will not “stand aside” if Taiwan is attacked, arguing that a Chinese assault would directly endanger Japan’s own security, trade routes, and the 1.2 million Japanese citizens living in southern prefectures.

China, furious at the remarks, has suspended Japanese seafood imports, issued a travel warning, and accused Tokyo of crossing a “red line.” Beijing’s foreign ministry said Japan was “interfering in China’s internal affairs” and warned of “consequences.”

Despite this, Tokyo has doubled down, insisting that protecting Taiwan is inseparable from defending Japan.

Takaichi’s parliamentary declaration — already being referred to in regional media as the “Diet Warning” — marks a historic shift away from the country’s traditionally cautious post-WWII posture.

Allied nations, including the United States, have publicly backed Japan, describing China’s economic retaliation as “coercive.”