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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Japan responds to rising China-Taiwan tensions by militarizing its remote islands |
| 2022-09-12 |
| [BenarNews] Japan plans to beef up defenses on its remote islands in the East China Sea in preparation for a Taiwan Strait crisis, a move reflecting official strategic thinking but one that is likely to annoy China.The Japanese defense ministry wants to expand fuel and ammunition storage facilities on the Nansei (Ryukyu) island chain, whose westernmost tip lies only 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Taiwan, Nikkei Asia quoted Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada as saying this week. Moving ammunition to the southwest would improve Japan’s deterrence capabilities, Hamada said, adding that an ammunition depot will be built on the island of Amami Oshima, located between Kyushu and Okinawa. Port facilities and fuel depots will be set up in Okinawa, Kyushu and elsewhere to not only fulfill Japanese defense forces needs but support American forces responding to a Taiwan conflict. The defense ministry also plans to bolster missile and electronic warfare capacity on the Nansei Islands, according to Japan’s 2022 defense white paper. Japan is setting up electronic warfare units at three locations on those islands this year. In 2023, one will be dispatched to Yonaguni, the Japanese island closest to Taiwan. Yonaguni already hosts a military base with some 160 soldiers stationed there since 2016. By March 2023, Japan will establish an army garrison equipped with anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles on Ishigaki island southwest of Okinawa. Similar units were already deployed to Amami Oshima island in 2019 and to Miyako island in 2020. SHIFT IN PUBLIC OPINION "Even before Pelosi’s trip, in May this year, 90 percent of the Japanese respondents to a survey by Nikkei said Japan should be prepared for the possible military conflict in the Taiwan Strait; 41 percent said that the preparation could accompany a change in the law, and 60 percent accepted Japan having counterattack capabilities, despite such capabilities having invited controversies before," said Fumiko Sasaki, a specialist in international relations focused on Asia and Japanese politics at Columbia University. On Aug. 31, the Japanese Defense Ministry made its largest ever budget request of 5.59 trillion yen (U.S. $40.4 billion) for the 2023 fiscal year to deal with increased security challenges. In June, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he intended to strengthen Japan’s defense capabilities "fundamentally over the next five years." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 Empty islands can just be seized. Emplacing weapons ups the ante |
| Posted by: magpie 2022-09-12 13:51 |
| #2 What of the north islands, those the Russians claim? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2022-09-12 07:11 |
| #1 Japan plans to beef up defenses on its remote islands How did that work out the last time? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-09-12 07:08 |