Japanese Prime Minister Sane Takaichi warns of China’s ‘forcefulness’, pledges security integrity

Japanese Prime Minister Sane Takaichi on Friday (Feb 20, 2026) warned of growing Chinese “coercion” in his first post-election speech to parliament and vowed to overhaul defense strategy, ease controls on military exports and strengthen critical supply chains.

Ms Takaichi’s four-month tenure has been marked by a diplomatic row with China after she said Japan could deploy military forces to counter any attack on Taiwan that also threatens Japanese territory. After turning a fragile majority into a landslide victory in lower house elections this month, Ms. Takaichi outlined an agenda.

With two-thirds of the seats now controlled by her ruling coalition, she faces less resistance to her plans.

“Japan is facing the most intense and complex security environment since World War II,” Ms. Takaichi said China’s expanding military activities, its close security ties with Russia and North Korea’s growing nuclear missile capability.

The government will revise Japan’s three main security documents this year to create a new defense strategy and speed up a review of military export rules to expand overseas sales and strengthen defense companies, she added.

“China has intensified its efforts to unilaterally change the status quo through force or coercion in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” she told lawmakers.

Ms. Takaichi accelerated a military build-up starting in 2023 that will double Japan’s defense spending to 2% of GDP by the end of March, making it one of the world’s biggest military spenders despite a pacifist constitution.

She also announced plans for the National Intelligence Council, which she chairs, to consolidate information gathered by agencies including the police and the Ministry of Defence.

Japan has no foreign or domestic intelligence services like the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Britain’s MI5.

Editorial | Troubled Waters: On Sino-Japanese Tensions

Beyond security, Ms. Takaichi proposed and said the rules governing land purchases by foreigners would be reviewed. She pledged to strengthen supply chains to reduce dependence on “specific countries” and work with allies to secure key materials, including rare earths, around the remote Pacific island of Minamitori.

Ms. Takaichi has promised to speed up the restart of reactors idled after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in 2011.

“A nation that does not embrace challenges has no future,” she said in closing remarks. “Politics that seeks only to protect does not inspire hope.”