Japan-based media outlet Kyodo News reported on Sunday that the United States (US) and Japan have agreed to closely cooperate in a situation where Taiwan faces a military attack by China. This was decided during US defence Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Tokyo last week, wherein Austin brought up the issue of Taiwan with Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi. Although there was no discussion on the specifics of how the two countries will coordinate responses if such an emergency were to happen, Chinese state-owned media outlet The Global Times predicts that “Japan may provide intelligence and logistical support to the US in accordance with the US-Japan security treaty,” and may also “provide intelligence support to the Taiwan military at the request of Washington.”
A two-page statement issued after talks by Kishi, Austin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, also held last Tuesday, recognised that China’s behaviour “presents political, economic, military, and technological challenges” to the US-Japan relationship and the international community at large. It further called for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. “We will push back when necessary when China uses coercion or aggression to try to get its way,” Blinken said. Austin added that due to Beijing’s “destabilizing actions” in the South and East China Seas, “our goal is to make sure that we maintain a competitive edge over China or anyone else that would want to threaten us or our alliance.”
In the meeting, Kishi also referred to the recent increase in the number of Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and the need to explore ways for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to cooperate with American forces defending Taiwan in the event of Chinese aggression. Over the past few months, Taiwan has reported incursion by Chinese warplanes into its air defence identification zone (ADIZ) almost daily. Moreover, in recent months, Tokyo has been reviewing the possibility of issuing an SDF dispatch order to protect US warships and military planes in case a crisis erupts between China and Taiwan, especially considering the strait’s geographical proximity and the possibility of an armed conflict in the region, which could affect Japan’s national security.
Only a day after Blinken and Austin landed in Tokyo, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian urged the US to “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs”. Zhao said that “certain countries” have been “keen to exaggerate and hype up the so-called ‘China threat’ to sow discord among regional countries, especially to disrupt their relations with China... However, their actions, running counter to the trend of the times of peace, development and cooperation and the common aspirations of the countries and peoples in the region, will not be welcomed or succeed.”
US and Japan Agree To Cooperate In Case of Military Clash Between China and Taiwan
A Japanese news agency reported that the United States and Japan made a pact to cooperate in the eventuality of a military clash between Taiwan and China.
March 23, 2021
SOURCE: AFP