Sanae Takaichi has barely concealed her far-right ambitions.
In the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Takaichi Sanae delivered his first speech at the United Nations General Assembly. A Japanese netizen posted a photo of the scene and commented: "The venue is full except for empty seats."
Photos showed that most of the seats were empty, with only a few people in each row. The netizen said the attendance rate was only about 10%. Other Japanese netizens responded to this article and posted another similar photo of an empty seat, with a text saying that the situation at Gaoshi's speech was "similar to that at Netanyahu's speech."
Although there was only a small audience, Sanae Takaichi's trip to the United Nations General Assembly still attracted media attention from various countries. The reason is because of the demands in her speech:
"The 81-year-old United Nations Charter should be thoroughly reviewed, especially its provisions on 'hostile states', which should be deleted as soon as possible."
The clause mentioned by Takaichi is the "enemy clause", which consists of Articles 53, 77 and 107 of the United Nations Charter. It is a special institutional arrangement established by the international community after World War II to prevent fascist or militarist countries such as Germany, Italy, and Japan from launching aggression again.
Its core content is: If these countries take any steps to implement aggressive policies again, the founding members of the United Nations such as China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States have the right to directly carry out military operations against them without authorization from the Security Council.
In layman's terms, this clause is a "backstop" to prevent the resurgence of fascism and militarism.
However, the Japanese government always wants to delete this clause. Since the 1960s, Japan has continuously tried to push for the deletion of this clause through economic and monetary diplomacy, but has never succeeded.
In 1995, under the leadership of Japan, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution on the deletion of this clause, stating that it would initiate procedures to delete the "enemy clause" in due course. This time Takaichi Sanae used this resolution to argue that it had been passed before and that the clauses should be deleted as soon as possible.
However, the resolution is only a recommendation and has no legal effect. The United Nations Charter can only be amended if it is approved by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the United Nations General Assembly and unanimously agreed by the five permanent members of the Security Council, including China.
Gao Shi wants to expand his voice through political appeals at the UN General Assembly, disguise the suggestions as established results, and do not plan to be too loud.
Moreover, the Japanese government intends to push for the deletion of this clause, and the reason is hidden in Japan's behavior.
Orally, Takaichi boasted on the podium of the United Nations General Assembly that Japan is based on the principle of "exclusive defense" and that as a peaceful country, it has been making contributions to the international community. He also claimed that "Japan is the only country in the world that has been victimized by atomic bombs," and so on.
But in terms of operations, in March this year, Japan deployed for the first time a long-range missile capable of "attacking enemy bases". The missile has a range of about 1,000 kilometers. Japan's Kyodo News commented that this deployment marks a change in Japan's defense policy that adheres to the principle of "exclusive defense".
The Gao city government also regards the defense industry as a new engine to stimulate the economy, trying to drive related industrial chains through huge arms sales orders.
In fiscal year 2026, Japan’s defense budget is as high as 9.04 trillion yen, a record high. A large amount of funds flow to the military industry giants. As of March this year, the total backlog of defense-related business orders of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI has reached 6.25 trillion yen.
According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, the Japanese government also plans to establish a new legal entity closely related to defense in 2027 to coordinate the export of defense equipment, cultivate emerging enterprises, and strengthen the production base. It also includes 40 billion yen in the 2027 budget application for a "fund to support the smooth export of defense equipment." Some Japanese opposition parties said that this reminded them of the "arsenal" before World War II.
This is the fundamental reason why the "enemy clause" cannot be deleted so far. It is not an outdated piece of paper, but an alarm set by the post-war international order to prevent the resurgence of Japanese militarism.
The podium of the United Nations General Assembly is a "demon mirror". The sparse audience in the audience reflects the true attitude of the international community towards Japanese right-wing politicians.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded to Gao Shi's remarks at a regular press conference, saying, "The international community pays more attention to what Japan does than what Japan says."
If Japan really wants to win the respect of the international community, the right thing to do is not to ask for the deletion of the "enemy clause", but to use practical actions to prove that it has completely separated from militarism. Otherwise, not only will this clause not be deleted, but it will be mentioned repeatedly when Japan promotes "new militarism" again and again.
