Takaichi's polished performance can't disguise her ulterior motives: China Daily editorial chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2026-02-24 19:52

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202602/24/WS699d9124a310d6866eb3a0cd.html There was a theatrical quality to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's recent performance in the Japanese Diet — a kabuki of "resolve", "righteousness" and recycled "fear" — in which China and other neighboring countries play the "stock villains" and Japan, once again, the role of "embattled sentinel of civilization". The script is familiar. But the props are new: missile batteries scattered across the Ryukyu archipelago, radar towers sprouting on subtropical islands, and a military budget swollen to levels unseen in decades.