Former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stated on Sunday that diplomacy should not be treated as a platform for making arbitrary statements or pursuing popularity, in a pointed rebuke to incumbent leader Sanae Takaichi's provocative remarks on Taiwan.

Ishiba made the comments on a local news program.

Japan-China relations are delicate, and the position taken by the Japanese government is fundamental, "so I hope the current government will be very mindful of that and handle these matters accordingly from now on," he said.

Ishiba had previously voiced his criticism. He said in a radio program on TBS that Takaichi's comments were "very close to claiming that a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency," adding that previous governments had consistently avoided making definitive declarations on how the government would respond to specific scenarios regarding the Taiwan question.

(Cover: Shigeru Ishiba attends a cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, on October 21, 2025. /VCG)