My Take | Takaichi’s stance over Taiwan is just what the West wants
Japan can protect its security and national interest by peaceful means rather than going down a belligerent path
Imagine Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as a German leader. Instead of being euphemistically labelled a nationalist conservative by an adoring Western media, she would have been more accurately called a far-right extremist.
Her biggest fans like to spew hate on tourists (especially Chinese), foreigners and immigrants, though the latter’s population is insignificant when compared with many Western countries.
She has breached Japan’s notorious glass ceiling, but she wants to make sure it’s repaired and strengthened after her own breakthrough by advocating traditional gender roles – as in women belong in the kitchen.
She denies Japan’s war crimes and wants history textbooks revised to remove the expressions of remorse and regret. She has claimed the Kono (1993) and Murayama (1995) statements distorted imperial Japan’s wartime records and need to be cancelled so as to “protect the honor and pride of the nation.”
You might have guessed that throughout her public career, she liked nothing better than spending holidays or memorial days by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine where convicted class-A war criminals are celebrated by the far-right as national heroes.
She also, as every self-respecting far-right extremist does in Japan, thinks there were no “comfort women”, as those were all prostitutes hoping to get payouts long after the war was over.