Shotlist FILE: Tokyo, Japan - Oct 21, 2025 1. Various of National Diet building Tokyo, Japan - Dec 8, 2025 2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Hitomi Sugiura, lawyer (starting with shot 1, partially overlaid with shot 3): "Sanae Takaichi's remarks violate the legislation as its legal requirements are not met. It also deviates from the position the Japanese government has long upheld, so these are remarks that have crossed the line. So I think Takaichi's remarks have caused very negative consequences to the Japan-China relations, and the Chinese side has demanded the remarks should be retracted. So I think they should be retracted immediately. In the first place, Article 9 of the Constitution prohibits the maintenance of armed forces and renounces war as a means of settling international disputes. From a lawyer's perspective, the current situation violates the Constitution. As Japan's relevant military policies continue to push ahead, we must take action to try to stop this trend." [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Tokyo, Japan - Jan 6, 2025 3. Various of Defense Ministry building, guards at gate [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Tokyo, Japan - Sept 2024 4 Various of Japanese prime minister's office, security guards Lusaka, Zambia - Recent 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Akashambatwa Lewanika, political advisor to former President of Zambia (partially overlaid with shots 6-7): "The Prime Minister of Japan's words addressed on this subject, which is an internal subject, is a step in the wrong direction, which is not encouraging peaceful coexistence between Japan and China, and it is not a step that leaves the internal affairs of China in Chinese hands. History teaches us that we do not want to go back to imperialism, we do not want to go back to colonialism, we do not want to go to militarism that showed its ugly face during the Second World War. We'd like the Second World War to be seen as concluded as it was concluded." [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Tokyo, Japan - Aug 18, 2023 6. Sign of Japanese prime minister's office FILE: Tokyo, Japan - 2017 7. Sign of Japanese prime minister's office [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Tokyo, Japan - July 20, 2025 8. National Diet building Storyline Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks regarding China's Taiwan region have drawn criticisms among politicians and scholars at home and abroad. Hitomi Sugiura, a Japanese lawyer, pointed out that Takaichi's remarks at a Diet meeting on Nov 7 erroneously invoked Japan's right to collective self-defense enabled by the legislation for peace and security passed in 2015, which violates the Constitution of Japan itself. It was in that speech Takaichi claimed that the Chinese mainland's "use of force on Taiwan" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan and implied the possibility of armed intervention across the Taiwan Strait. Noting the remarks have seriously undermined the relations between Japan and China, the lawyer urged Takaichi to retract her remarks as soon as possible. "Sanae Takaichi's remarks violate the legislation as its legal requirements are not met. It also deviates from the position the Japanese government has long upheld, so these are remarks that have crossed the line. So I think Takaichi's remarks have caused very negative consequences to the Japan-China relations, and the Chinese side has demanded the remarks should be retracted. So I think they should be retracted immediately," Sugiura said. Regarding Japan's military buildup in the past few years, which has intensified regional tensions, Sugiura called on the Japanese government to return to the path of peace. "In the first place, Article 9 of the Constitution prohibits the maintenance of armed forces and renounces war as a means of settling international disputes. From a lawyer's perspective, the current situation violates the Constitution. As Japan's relevant military policies continue to push ahead, we must take action to try to stop this trend," she said. Akashambatwa Lewanika, a former political advisor to President of Zambia, noted the Taiwan question is China's internal affair and Takaichi's provocative interference undermines bilateral relations. "he Prime Minister of Japan's words addressed on this subject, which is an internal subject, is a step in the wrong direction, which is not encouraging peaceful coexistence between Japan and China, and it is not a step that leaves the internal affairs of China in Chinese hands," he said. Lewanika also noted that Takaichi's provocative remarks pose a challenge to post-war international order. "History teaches us that we do not want to go back to imperialism, we do not want to go back to colonialism, we do not want to go to militarism that showed its ugly face during the Second World War. We'd like the Second World War to be seen as concluded as it was concluded," Lewanika said. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]