The U.S. is urging Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to support Taiwan in a joint U.S.-Japan statement just before the U.S.-Japan summit this Friday, according to the Financial Times.
Kan will be the first foreign head of state to make an official visit to the White House since Biden took office, reflecting the importance the Biden administration places on the influence of the U.S.-Japan alliance in uniting U.S. allies against the Chinese challenge.
The U.S. and Japan expressed concern about the situation in the Taiwan Strait during ministerial talks between their foreign and defense ministers in March, and emphasized in a joint statement “the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
The Financial Times reported that, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, the U.S. side wanted Taiwan to be mentioned in a joint statement issued after the U.S.-Japan summit.
But some in the Japanese government believe that support for Taiwan has already been mentioned in the recent joint statement by foreign and defense ministers, and that Kan could provoke Beijing’s displeasure if he reiterates this rhetoric. Other Japanese officials argue that Japan needs to stand firmly with the United States.
The last time U.S. and Japanese heads jointly issued a statement on Taiwan was back in 1969, when President Nixon and Eisaku Sato made a joint statement.
China’s recent military moves in the Taiwan Strait have raised concerns. China sent 25 military aircraft into Taiwan’s aerial identification zone this Monday, the largest single-day incursion since Taiwan’s military began disclosing data on mainland China’s military movements last year. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said the Communist Party of China’s People’s Liberation Army sent another five military aircraft into Taiwan’s southwestern airspace identification zone on Tuesday.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office, described the PLA’s successive military aircraft movements in the Taiwan Strait since April 3 as “combat-oriented exercises”, saying they were aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty against interference by “external forces” and “provocations by Taiwan independence. The PLA’s response to “Taiwan independence provocations” is to safeguard national sovereignty.
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