Headstrong Takaichi wantonly leading Japan into a perilous trap of her making

If a strong reaction from Beijing was what Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi intended to trigger with her provocative remarks related to the Chinese island of Taiwan, as seems to be the case given her refusal to retract them, then she got what she wanted. The purpose is to find an excuse to accelerate Japan's remilitarization. But the question is whether she is capable of clearing up the trouble of her own making before it becomes too late.

After a series of institutional arrangements were made by her right-wing predecessors, Takaichi seems to have a strong sense of mission to put meat on the bones of Japan's so-called "normalization" featuring the country's remilitarization. This is shaking the foundation of the postwar international order.

Since taking office, rather than steadying relations with neighboring countries and stimulating the lackluster Japanese economy, two pressing issues for her, Takaichi has rushed to antagonize China.

During a recent parliamentary hearing, Takaichi cited a so-called "survival-threatening situation" — a trigger designed by a 2015 law of the country — that she linked to the Taiwan question, suggesting Tokyo might treat the Taiwan Strait situation as grounds for military involvement under the legislation.

In doing so, Takaichi is simply ignoring the real challenge to Japan is its domestic economic woes and trying to counter public concerns by hyping up a nonexistent "external threat".

But to shoehorn Taiwan into the category of a "survival-threatening situation" is a deliberate distortion and a calculated political provocation.

Only just over a month into office, Takaichi has already floated proposals for a substantial military budget hike, full relaxation of arms-export controls, enhanced preemptive strike capabilities, and accelerated revision of security documents, with the most disturbing being signs that she intends to backtrack on Japan's long-standing "three nonnuclear principles" by allowing nuclear weapons into the country.

This is reminiscent of the way in which Japan fabricated a "threat" from its neighbors — mainly China — in the 1890s and the 1930s to justify its military aggression. It is therefore a tried-and-tested excuse for Japan to pursue its militaristic ambitions.

Taken together, Takaichi's remarks and proposals remove the veil with which Tokyo was obscuring the real trajectory of Japan's "normalization".

But Takaichi, as well as those external parties whose support has emboldened her, should be reminded that the China she intends to challenge today is not the China of yesteryear. The world is also different from the one when Japan unleashed its aggression.

Given its 50-year brutal occupation of the Chinese island — which was restored to the motherland in 1945 — Japan is in a better position than any other country to know Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Japanese government abiding by its commitment to the one-China principle and the four political documents agreed between the two sides is nonnegotiable as the foundation for bilateral diplomatic relations.

How to resolve the Taiwan question and realize national reunification is a matter for the Chinese people to decide. It brooks no interference by any external force. Takaichi's attempt to wade into cross-Strait affairs as a justification for Japan's remilitarization is a serious misjudgment. It is an affront to international justice, a blatant provocation to the postwar order, and deals a great blow to China-Japan relations.

If Japan dares to attempt an armed intervention in the cross-Strait situation, it would be an act of aggression and would definitely be met with a firm response from China. Beijing has made clear that it will exercise the country's right to self-defense under the United Nations Charter and international law to defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The secessionist-minded Lai Ching-te authorities' supportive message to Takaichi is a telling sign of the interfering nature of her remarks that have served to make the separatists on the Chinese island itch to act.

Japan must immediately cease its wrong and provocative statements and moves that interfere in China's internal affairs, and stop playing with fire on the Taiwan question.

The historical debt of the heavy loss of life that Japan's aggression caused in China, as well as other neighboring countries, since the late 19th century remains unpaid. If China's stern warning and the strong domestic and international opposition to her militaristic ambitions cannot sway Takaichi from her course, she risks becoming a key figure in Japanese history as she desires but for the wrong reasons, as she will lead the country to pay off its historical debt with interest.