What did Sanae Takkaichi discuss at today's UN General Assembly? What is the main takeaway and highlights?

Sanae Takaichi, Japan's Prime Minister and the first woman to hold that office, was scheduled as the final speaker in today's afternoon session of the 81st UN General Assembly general debate, the annual gathering where heads of state address the world body at its headquarters in New York. The theme of this year's debate is "Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all."

The core message: energy, supply chains, and AI leadership

Before departing Tokyo, Takaichi told reporters she wants to use her UN speech to "express Japan's determination to exercise leadership" in strengthening supply chains, including those for energy, and responding to technological innovation such as artificial intelligence. She plans to explain that Japan is drawing up an economic and energy cooperation plan for Gulf countries in light of the situation in the Middle East, and to express her country's commitment to contributing to the stability of global energy supplies. That cooperation plan was conveyed to Saudi Arabia and Oman when Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi visited the two countries in August.

Takaichi also reaffirmed Japan's continued support for UN-centered multilateralism and laid out her country's positions on the situations in Asia, the Middle East, and Ukraine.

The most pointed move: challenging the UN's own charter

Takaichi called for the United Nations to remove references in its charter that label Japan and Germany as "enemy states," a classification that China has recently used to criticize Tokyo amid a breakdown in relations over remarks Takaichi has made about Taiwan. In her maiden speech, she noted that clauses referring to the Axis powers of World War II as "enemy states" remain in the document, despite a unanimous UN resolution in 2005 to remove them. That is a striking move: standing inside the UN building and telling the organization its own founding document is out of date, while knowing full well that Beijing has been weaponizing that same language against Tokyo.

The sideline agenda

Takaichi is also set to hold talks with President Donald Trump, hoping to align their views on China ahead of a US-China summit to be held in the United States on Thursday. The currency dimension adds weight to that meeting: after the yen slid to around 164 per dollar in late July, the US and Japan conducted their first coordinated yen-buying since 1998. She is also scheduled to meet with UN Secretary-General António Guterres before returning to Japan on Thursday.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Japan's admission to the United Nations, which gives the speech an added symbolic weight beyond the policy substance.