Why China is worried that Japan election may prompt change to pacifist constitution

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide victory in Sunday’s snap election has raised concern in China that she may seek to change the country’s pacifist constitution.Beijing would regard any change to the constitution, which renounces the use of force to settle international disputes, as a threat to regional stability and is likely to react strongly to any changes.Takaichi has previously signalled she wanted to change Article 9 of the constitution, imposed after Japan’s defeat in World War II, which prohibits the country from having armed forces with the “potential” to wage war.On Monday, she said Japan was continuing to communicate with China at “various levels” and would respond “calmly and appropriately from the standpoint of Japan’s national interests”.Without being too specific, she added that she would listen to a range of voices and be “bold” in building a Japan that would make younger generations proud, according to Bloomberg.Takaichi also said her victory – which gave her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) more than two-thirds of the seats in the lower house – had given her a mandate to carry out “important policy shifts”.