Why do Japanese politicians dare to take risks and provoke on the Taiwan issue?

As of November 12, the impact caused by China's warning against Takahashi Hayato's erroneous remarks on Taiwan is still ongoing, mainly manifested in two aspects:

Firstly, the Japan's Liberal Democratic Party's Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Affairs Research Association have drafted and passed a resolution, listing Chinese Consul General Xue Jian in Osaka as an "unwelcome person" and demanding that the Osaka City Government expel him.

The head of the LDP's Policy Research Council, Koike Taro, stated that "we cannot ignore the remarks of Consul General Xue Jian."

In addition, opposition parties such as the Constitutional Democratic Party, Komeito, and the National Democratic Party also seized the opportunity to speak out, criticizing Consul General Xue Jian's warning as "unacceptable," and also demanded the Osaka City Government to take action to expel him. However, the Japanese government has remained silent on this so far.

It should be noted that the LDP's relevant resolution is only an internal opinion and does not have legal effect. The Japanese government's cabinet holds the authority for foreign policy decisions.

Therefore, the current pressure from various political parties is more like a political performance - both to show a tough stance towards China in domestic public opinion, and to put Takahashi Hayato in an embarrassing situation, making it difficult for her to back down.

On the other hand, China's warning against Takahashi Hayato's erroneous statements has also attracted attention from the U.S.

U.S. media, when interviewing Trump, tried to guide him to restate the U.S.-Japan security treaty position or accuse China, but Trump did not cooperate. Instead, he said, "Many of America's allies are not really friends," and claimed that Sino-U.S. relations were good.

This response reflects a logical paradox within the American alliance system, that is, it is not just the United States unilaterally protecting its allies, but some allies try to "hijack" the United States through alliances. For example, Japan expects U.S. military intervention on the Taiwan issue.

Certainly, the reason why Japanese right-wing politicians dare to aggressively provoke on the Taiwan issue, in addition to relying on the U.S.-Japan alliance, lies deeper in their serious miscalculations about China's military development.

Take an example. In the Japanese Ministry of Defense's defense white paper released in July this year, the number of J-16 fighter jets of the PLA was assessed with three different figures.

Furthermore, the Japanese Ministry of Defense often makes fallacies when assessing China's military strength, such as "because the Chinese military parade displayed 16 DF-41 missiles, the PLA only has these many DF-41 missiles," or "the J-20 has gradually stopped production." At the same time, they define old Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels as "modern warships," while dividing the new warships of the PLA into several categories.

This kind of cognition detached from reality fully exposes the lack of professionalism and bias in the Japanese Ministry of Defense's assessment of China's military strength.

Therefore, Japanese right-wing politicians dare to make extreme remarks on the Taiwan issue, not because of deep thinking, but due to information and cognitive errors - in short, ignorance and stupidity. Their misunderstanding of the situation across the Taiwan Strait not only fails to contribute to regional stability, but may also place Japan itself at the risk of strategic miscalculation.

Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1848581765676048/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.