Japan Presses Ahead with Missile Deployment to Island Near Taiwan
As regional tensions continue, President Donald Trump made surprise calls this Monday with both Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Japan’s New Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
I recently reported that Japan scrambled aircraft after detecting a suspected Chinese drone near its southern island of Yonaguni, an island close to Taiwan.
The move came after harsh remarks from a Chinese diplomatic official and other forms of protest by China that followed in the wake of Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi verbalizing that her country would be willing to defend Taiwan.
Yonaguni continues to remain in the news, as Japan is now poised to move ahead with plans to deploy missiles there. Taiwan’s officials seem grateful.
Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Sunday that plans were “steadily moving forward” to deploy a medium-range surface-to-air missile unit at a military base on Yonaguni, an island about 110 km (68 miles) off Taiwan’s east coast.
…In Taipei on Monday, Taiwan Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu told lawmakers that Japan, as a sovereign nation, had the right to take steps needed to protect the security of its territory, pointing out how close Yonaguni was to Taiwan.
“Japan’s strengthening of its relevant military facilities is basically helpful to maintaining security in the Taiwan Strait,” he added.
“So, of course, this is helpful to our national interests as Japan has no territorial designs or hostility towards Taiwan.”
Interestingly, the Japanese Prime Minister’s statements seem to have enhanced her position and popularity.
The sparring comes at a time when anti-China sentiment has increased in Japan, influenced by narratives of Chinese over-tourism, military expansion near Japanese islands and reports blaming Chinese nationals for driving up rents and land prices by buying assets in Japan.
This attitude is especially shared among younger generations, a key demographic for Ms. Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, whose popularity has weakened because it has strained to appeal to younger voters.
A nationwide poll conducted last weekend by the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, showed that 64 percent of those aged 18-39 approved of the Takaichi government’s stance toward China. That compared to a 43 percent approval rate from those over 60, while the overall approval was 56 percent.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump made surprise calls this Monday with both Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Takaichi. Officials from China and Japan said Trump initiated the calls, which the White House has not confirmed. However, the timing suggests that the Oval Office is following the developments around Taiwan closely.
Trump has not publicly commented on the dispute, though his ambassador to Japan, George Glass, has said Tokyo can count on U.S. support in the face of Chinese “coercion.”
Takaichi said Tuesday that she reaffirmed Japan’s close cooperation with the U.S. in her call with Trump, which she said he initiated.
“President Trump mentioned that he and I are extremely good friends, and that I should call him any time,” she told reporters, according to Reuters.
…Trump said he had a “very good” call with Xi, their first since that meeting, and that U.S.-China relations were “extremely strong.”
Arguably, Japan’s sending missiles to Yonaguni sends Beijing a simple message that it cannot fail to understand: The era of easy coercion in the western Pacific is over.
It will be interesting to see how other countries in the region respond to this approach.
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Follow this up with a battery of surface to ship missiles on that island. China will certainly understand.
China is a scheming bully, bullies understand one thing, brut force. China still owes us a lot of + compounded interest, We should start seizing all their tangible US property as a down payment on their debt. We should also collect the valve of intellectual property theft.
If China successfully turns the Taiwanese government and a significant portion of the people to be pro-China, then what difference will any military advantage make?
Good. China has bullied Japan and this region, by itself and its N.Korean proxy, quite long enough. Frankly, I think China’s bluster hides its general military ineptness. It has demonstrated that it can overcome student protesters, but opposing state militaries? Not so much. Ask India.
Just don’t forget we heard the same thing about Russia when the piano player was the new celebrity on the block.
Japan’s Yonaguni Island (population 1,684 as of 2009) is roughly 71 miles from the Taiwanese mainland.
CCP China is roughly 79 miles from Taiwan’s mainland.
Japan is thus naturally concerned by any threat of CCP invasion of Taiwan as it increases the CCP’s proximity to its own territory – the CCP already claims that the Senkaku Islands belong to them and those are less than 91 miles NNE of Yonaguni, 103 miles NE of Taiwan, but 224 miles east of CCP territory.
Note too that if the CCP seize Senkaku that puts them within 255 miles of Okinawa as opposed to the current 400+ miles.
Yonaguni is only 11 sq miles in size.
There are five CCP missile sites within 200 miles of Taiwan’s Western coast, some only 125+/- miles. They are a mix of SRBM, MRBM, STA, STS.
Using sub-sonic SRBMs China could take Taiwan out in 15 minutes. Yonaguni wouldn’t last much longer.