Japan to Deploy Missiles to Island Near Taiwan: Minister

Japan to Deploy Missiles to Island Near Taiwan: Minister

Tensions between Japan and China are
escalating sharply over Taiwan. Tokyo has rejected Beijing’s claims that
its position has shifted, even as China threatens resolute self-defense against
Japan in a formal letter to the UN.
Let’s bring in our China correspondent, Minmin Low. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi
and Premier Li Qiang. They were in South Africa for the G20.
Were they engaged? To what extent were they able to talk?
Well, Takaichi is pretty much keeping a distance away from Premier Li.
We knew ahead of the meeting that previously China was not planning
to speak or to organise a meeting between Li Qiang and Takaichi, and ahead
of that as well, China had cancelled the trilateral meeting between the culture
ministers of Japan and South Korea and China that were slated to take place
this week. And Takaochi was asked about whether
she had any chance to speak with China. She said there was no chance to do so,
but she’s not closing the door to dialogue.
And in fact, Japan is still calling for dialogue and also dismissing China’s
claims that Japan is changing its position on Taiwan, calling it
completely baseless. And this comes after China had submitted
a letter to the U.N. in order to rally support for its
position, saying that it’s vowing to take resolute self-defense if Japan
dares to intervene militarily. So tensions are escalating.
And in the meantime, the Chinese embassy in Japan also wrote a text on X
saying that China has the authority to defend itself without needing UN
approval by citing this enemy status clause.
But Japan saying that that clause is essentially obsolete by this point.
And Japan is not backing down. The defense minister just visiting a
military base close to Taiwan. What do we know?
Yes, Japan’s defense minister is making his first visit to Yonaguni, which is
an island just 100 kilometers to the east of Taiwan, a very strategic
location. And he’s saying that Japan will plan to
deploy some missiles from that island. And we all know about Okinawa.
That’s the larger island to the farther to the east that hosts a US military
base. And recently a US training has also
deployed some of the supplies from Okinawa to you Yonaguny.
And of course, this is something that would potentially provoke China to
perhaps also respond with its own military drills to the region.
Now, Japan’s defense minister said that this is something that would
preemptively deter any military conflict in the region, dismissing any claims
that it would destabilize peace in the region.
But it’s part of Japan’s military build up along the southern island chain.
Bloomberg’s China Correspondent Minmin Low there and let’s actually discuss the
diplomatic spat ongoing between Japan and China with Sheila Smith.
She’s Senior Fellow for Asia Pacific Studies at the Council on Foreign
Relations. Sheila, really good to have you with us.
So we are seeing both sides
coming out with very hard line policies. What is Prime Minister Takaichi’s
strategy here, given that she’s not backing down?
No. And I think and it’s great to be
with you as always. You know, Takaichi made her remarks in the
Japanese diet in response to the questioning by an opposition party
member. So the statement that she made was
perhaps more clear about whether or not a Taiwan scenario would worry Japan or
would lead for Japan to think about its own military acting at that point in
time. But the policy is not new.
It was interpreted and has been come law in Japan’s security legislation since
2015. But she is not in a position at home.
She’s in a minority government. Her party is has had two setbacks
electorally, but she is not in a position, I think, to compromise here.
She basically stated Japanese policy and now the Chinese are taking step by step
to escalate. The Chinese government has asked for a
retraction, but the chief cabinet secretary very quickly said that there
is no reason to retract anything. To be clear here, I think it’s
really important that Japan, she did not say that Japan would use force
against China. What she said was, you know,
independently. What she said was, if there is a
scenario in which China uses force against Taiwan, then Japan would have to
think about the consequences for Japan’s defenses.
And I think that’s important to to remember.
She didn’t say that Japan would militarily intervene in the Taiwan
contingency, but she did say a Chinese use of force would cause Japan to
consider its defense needs. Right.
So I don’t know. I mean, I think the escalatory path is interesting to see. It’s mostly economic at the moment.
But these recent, the statement at the U.N., for example, and Wang Yi’s comments, I think, are suggesting that China may want to put even more pressure. Do you think such
a diplomatic spat with China will actually help Takaichi’s government? As you said, they’re in the minority.
They’re not that strong. But you can see the opinion polls,
Yomiuri poll just today being released. According to Cabinet approval rating,
72%, Mainichi poll, 65%. It always happens when you have a
diplomatic spat, external issues that you actually get a boost domestically.
Given that Takaichi comes from a conservative side.
Can this help? Well, it’s obviously is helping.
And here’s the thing that I think is important.
Her approval rating when she became prime minister was very high.
By some accounts, it was in the 80%. Yomiuri had a just slightly lower than
80. Whether this spat was going to help or
hinder her approval was not really clear to me anyway.
But what you had was polling, spot polling earlier in the week, earlier in
the in the conflict to basically say, would you, did she do the right thing?
Did she say the right thing? And 49% of the Japanese people said yes,
which is very unusual given, as you may know, the Japanese hesitancy about use
of force and making comments about the use of force.
What these recent polls, and I’m glad you noted the Yomiuri poll in particular,
what they reveal is actually she’s getting a rebound of, a positive rebound
from the way she’s handling this. So I think what this indicates is the
Japanese public is not taking the Chinese response well. You know, the economic sanctions have
been on tourism to Japan. Well, a lot of Japanese think there’s
too many Chinese coming to Japan. This the the seafood …
I think there’s there’s been a sense that’s just been resolved and now
there’s a setback. So I think public opinion is a little
bit on her side. That doesn’t mean it’s going to stay on
her side. So the escalatory dynamics are
important. Yeah.
Just wondering as well, do you think that all this is helping to boost maybe
not just Takaichi, but also Japan’s profile on the world stage and how they
are engaging with other world leaders? I mean, you recall what we saw between
her and Meloni as well. Yes.
So I don’t really, that’s a really great question.
I’m not sure I know the answer, but I think she has captured the spotlight.
Takaichi herself, she’s been, she’s had a really good meeting with the ASEAN
leaders at the APEC summit, where she did meet President Xi.
The Trump meeting, when President Trump went to Tokyo, went really well.
And now at the G20, she seems to be holding her own.
I think for Japan, they see themselves as the country who wants to defend the
existing rules based order. Their diplomacy is very focused on
multilateralism, and they see China as challenging the current rules based
order. I think there will be support for her in
some quarters or for Japan writ large, but I’m not sure it’s going to be
uniformly across the globe that everybody will take Japan’s side and not China’s. But I think that both China and Japan are playing on the global stage now
to see, to demonstrate that their positions are the right positions.
And this will unfold, I think. I’m not sure how, but I think once we
get to either the threat of the use of force or a much more of, you know, ships
go into the East China Sea, if you start to get that kind of dynamic to the
tension, to the tensions, then I think people will get worried, will get
seriously worried. As you say, now the tensions are mostly
economic. And I guess at this stage it’s also
worth taking stock in how Japan, under Takaichi’s leadership, has been engaging with
the U.S. on economic and tariff policy.
What do you think is the key thing that’s going to shape their relations
going forward? Well, I think, you know, clearly the
tariff deal was negotiated by her predecessor, Prime Minister Ishiba, but
the gentleman who negotiated it is now in the cabinet.
So there’s continuity on the Takaichi position on the U.S.
and the idea and the visit of Trump to Tokyo produced several documents.
Cooperation on rare earth and critical minerals supply chains, on scientific
innovation, next generation technology. So you see that the relationship is
focused on these economic dimensions, but shifting it over a little bit to
economic security kinds of priorities. I think she’s going to be very
consistent. The U.S.
Japan alliance is very, very important to Japan.
And I think during the Trump visit, you also saw the two of them on the
U.S. aircraft carrier that is homeported on Yokosuka. So we’re going to see more of this kind
of idea that the US-Japan alliance will be stronger than ever Takaichi.

Japan’s defense minister, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post were on track as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing over the East Asian island. Bloomberg’s China Correspondent Minmin Low and Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow for APAC Studies Sheila Smith discuss the latest developments.
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