Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi (right) and U.S. Defense Secretary Austin (left) meet face-to-face in Tokyo on the 16th.
Kyodo 22 reported that several Japanese government sources revealed that Japan’s defense minister and the U.S. defense secretary agreed during a face-to-face meeting on the 16th that Japan and the U.S. would work closely together in the event of a military conflict between Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Party.
Japan has always avoided commenting on the possibility of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Kyodo News said Japan’s consistent position is to hope that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait “with dialogue and peaceful resolution of disputes,” this Time the Taiwan Strait conflict as a topic is rare.
U.S. Secretary of State John Buergen and Secretary of Defense John Austin held two-plus-two talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshichika Mogi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi in Tokyo on June 16, and issued a joint document after the meeting. The U.S. and Japan showed a sense of crisis in the talks over Beijing‘s rapid arms build-up that has led to a regional military imbalance. The joint document did not mention the cross-strait conflict, but only emphasized “the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
However, in the defense ministers’ meeting before the two-plus-two talks, Austin took the initiative to raise the issue of cross-strait conflict in the Taiwan Strait, but the U.S. side did not specify specific measures to deal with it in the meeting.
Nobuo Kishi mentioned during the talks that there has been a recent surge in Chinese military aircraft flying over the central line in the Taiwan Strait, and the U.S. and Japan agreed that if the situation becomes more tense, an armed conflict could break out. Nobuo Kishi pointed out that Japan’s geographical location near the Taiwan Strait, once the local conflict, Japan’s peace and stability and the safety of Japanese citizens will be greatly affected, it is necessary to study what assistance the Self-Defense Forces can provide to the U.S. forces going to support Taiwan.
The Japanese government internally believes that if it sits back and does nothing, the Taiwan Strait conflict threatens to evolve into a direct force attack on Japan. Japan is studying the possibility of sending its Self-Defense Forces to protect U.S. warships and military aircraft in the event of a crisis in the Taiwan Strait.
Reuters reported that the U.S. Embassy in Japan did not respond to the news that Japan and the U.S. will cooperate to respond to the Taiwan Strait conflict, and representatives of the Japanese Defense Ministry could not be reached.
The joint document of the Japan-U.S. two-plus-two talks expressed opposition to Beijing’s intimidating and destabilizing behavior in the Indo-Pacific region, which is considered inconsistent with the existing international order and poses “political, economic, military and technological challenges.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshichika Mogi said in a television interview on the 17th that “it is necessary for Japan to show a presence beyond the past” in terms of cooperation between Japan and the United States on security issues. He believes that Japan’s gesture of actively sharing responsibilities without waiting for the U.S. to make a request is important.
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