# first island chain

Tokyo’s Taiwan Rhetoric and Robot Dogs: Why Beijing Sees a Dangerous Mix of Electioneering and Militarisation

Japan’s prime minister sparked Beijing’s ire by saying Tokyo and Washington would jointly evacuate citizens in a Taiwan crisis, prompting Chinese accusations of remilitarisation. The dispute unfolds amid U.S. efforts to balance deterrence with stable ties to China and Japan’s procurement of unmanned “machine dogs”, which signal a low‑risk military transformation that may alter crisis incentives.