The media reported an increase in Japan's tensions with China after Takaichi's victory

The victory of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) under the leadership of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will tighten Tokyo's foreign policy, which contributes to the tension in relations with China. This was reported on February 9 by the Reuters news agency.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's landslide election victory has weakened domestic opposition to her tough security agenda, encouraging plans to continue a military buildup that China condemns as a return to militarism.

Experts note that the issue of confrontation with China has become a "hidden agenda" of the February 8 elections to the lower house of parliament.

For example, former Japanese Ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami and current Taiwanese Ambassador to Japan Lee Yi-Yang, in an interview with the agency, pointed out that the LDP's landslide victory showed that the Japanese were not afraid of China's opposition and chose "not to yield" in the intensifying confrontation.

After Prime Minister Takaichi came to power in October 2025, the bilateral relations between Japan and China deteriorated. The diplomatic escalation followed a dramatic change in Tokyo's rhetoric on Taiwan.

Despite the fact that Tokyo still supports the one-China policy at the official level, denying sovereignty to the Taiwanese administration, Takaichi declared its readiness to deploy self-defense forces in the event of China's attempt to establish control over the island.

In domestic politics, Takaichi also pursues a course for a record increase in military spending to 2% of GDP and a revision of the constitution adopted after World War II, in particular its ninth article, which proclaims the Japanese refusal to create an army and war as a means of resolving international disputes.

Japan is facing a conservative tilt after Takaichi's election victory. What the media is writing

On the same day, it became known that the ruling party of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi won the elections to the lower house of parliament and showed the best result in its history, gaining 316 seats, which is two-thirds of their total number, which allowed the party to gain control of the lower house of the Japanese parliament.

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