00:00What impact will Takeichi's victory have in Japan, particularly for matters of defense and security?
00:06Takeichi's won a massive personal victory. The campaign was largely about her, actually.
00:12It was historically short, just 16 days, that allowed detail on policy to be sort of skated over and to focus on her.
00:22So she has a very significant personal mandate.
00:25She has a lot of things that she says she wants to do, particularly on the security side, increasing defense spending, for example,
00:35building out Japan's intelligence capabilities, perhaps relaxing constraints on exports of defense kits and so on.
00:43So I think one of the things to focus on is how she uses her focus on defense to boost economic growth.
00:51So the investment in defense areas to boost economic growth.
00:54But that's going to be the key to the longevity of her administration.
00:59How will she approach the U.S.-Japan relationship moving forward at this particularly unique moment in time?
01:05This is the for Japan. This is the key relationship, the relationship with the U.S. president,
01:10with the U.S. president, given the importance of the U.S. security alliance.
01:16She made a very good start with Donald Trump when he came to visit Japan last year.
01:22They had good chemistry.
01:24She will go to the U.S. in March ahead of Trump's meeting of Xi in April, of course.
01:32One of the tasks that Xi will have in this March meeting is to just persuade the president Trump of her concerns about China's role,
01:43destabilizing role in the Indo-Pacific.
01:46After her comments on Taiwan's security in the Diet in November last year,
01:53Japan was a bit disappointed that the U.S. is relatively muted support for her.
01:59Takeichi has been quite outspoken about Taiwan.
02:02So what role is Taiwan now going to occupy in Japan's foreign policy?
02:06In November last year, she made explicit what had been implicit in Japanese policy with regard to Taiwan.
02:15So she didn't say anything new, but she sort of put it on the table.
02:19I think a couple of things to watch here as regards to Japan's policy towards Taiwan.
02:24One is, of course, the composition of the cabinet.
02:26When she took office, her immediate appointments included a number of those in the LDP who take close interest in Taiwan's security.
02:38I would expect those people to be reappointed in the new cabinet.
02:43Also important to note is I don't think she will antagonize China actively.
02:49Japan, despite its concerns about Taiwan's security, despite its concerns about China's impact more broadly in the region,
02:57it does have a very close economic relationship with China.
03:01So, of course, Japan doesn't want to put that into any more risk than it already is.
03:06So, again, treading a very fine balance between worrying about what she sees as a security threat from China,
03:14but also trying to maintain economic relations and maintain stability within that too.
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