Japan’s submarine fleet could prove a major strategic headache for China, military analysts have said, as Tokyo moves to strengthen its armed forces.

Her remarks were the most explicit by a sitting Japanese prime minister on how Tokyo might respond to a crisis in the Taiwan Strait and marked a departure from Japan’s traditional strategic ambiguity – a position also maintained by its main ally, the United States.

Beijing reacted angrily, taking a series of economic countermeasures, while Takaichi has refused to retract her remarks.

China also accused Japan of “deliberately creating regional tensions” and said it would not allow “Japanese militarism to rise from the ashes”.