Poll: Majority of Japanese concerned over Chinese invasion of Taiwan, approves sanctions against Russia

Three in four Japanese are worried that China could take military action against Taiwan or a set of disputed islands in the East China Sea, according to a Kyodo News survey, according to a Bloomberg report.

They are worried that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could prompt China to launch similar attacks, respondents said in a poll conducted over the weekend. Public support for Prime Minister Fumio Kishinda’s government has grown as a whole 86% of respondents supported Japan’s decision to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

There is growing evidence that the war in Ukraine has made the Japanese more wary of security threats in Asia. Japan has been embroiled in a territorial dispute with China over a chain of islands in the East China Sea – called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China – and generally sees the security of neighboring Taiwan as closely linked to its own.

A separate survey by Saturday from the Mainichi newspaper and the Saitama University Center for Social Research found that nine out of ten Japanese are worried that China could invade Taiwan.

Kishida’s decision to send bulletproof vests to Ukraine was “reasonable,” 61 percent of those polled by Mainichi said. About 11% said Japan did not need to help Ukraine militarily, but twice as many said their country should consider providing more active military support to the Eastern European nation.

Source: Capital

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