00:00But I think a lot of the question happening now is Takaiichi, she's had this landslide win in Japan.
00:06But what does this mean for Japanese and Chinese relations?
00:10Because they haven't been on the best footing since she did assume power.
00:14No, and we knew going into these elections, the priorities for the voters, specifically the younger voters,
00:18they wanted economic stability and they wanted an increase in defence spending
00:23and certainly in defence tactics that were going to be ramped up.
00:27So we knew that that was a priority.
00:29Whereas your older voter population, they were more keen on stability in the long term.
00:33We know pensions have been suffering in Japan as well.
00:35She's been called Japan's Maggie Thatcher and she's come in with this very strong mandate,
00:39which is an assertive stance towards China, which is exactly what the young voters kind of requested
00:44before she went in with this mandate.
00:46So it looks like it's paid off dividends for her, particularly on things like territorial waters
00:51and the defence policy, as Rawia mentioned as well, a higher spending on that is good news
00:56and clearly it's won her the favour of the voters as well.
00:59So she's got to reassure the parts of the Japanese electorate and the financial markets as well
01:03that there will be no... she has to make sure that they are safe against China,
01:07but they can't risk a diplomatic friction with Beijing at all,
01:11which is a very, very tricky tightrope to try to walk.
01:14But it seems like she may be the one to do it.
01:16And she's certainly offered the best solution for the younger voters,
01:19which, as Rawia said, showed out in their droves.
01:22Traditionally, Japan has got one of the lowest voter turnouts globally, normally around 40%.
01:26We saw 56% of people almost show up for this, of eligible voters show up for this,
01:31which is way up on the 53% that showed up in the 2024 election.
01:35So I think she's done something different.
01:38She's been visible to the public.
01:40I mean, come on, how many times do people talk about Japanese politics in real life?
01:43Whereas this lady has done it.
01:46She's managed to get into the public psyche.
01:47And she's done a really good job on that.
01:49And I think that's why we've seen young voters come out who had prioritised economic,
01:53because we know the cost of living crisis is affecting Japan as well,
01:57economic issues and, secondarily, defence issues.
01:59Now let's see her put her money where her mouth is and see if she can do that.
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