Japan and the US will declare in a joint agreement tomorrow that security in the Taiwan Strait is a "common strategic objective," The Washington Post said yesterday, citing a draft of the document it obtained.
The agreement will be announced after the US Secretaries of State, Condoleezza Rice, and of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, meet their Japanese counterparts in Washington today, the daily said in its article datelined in Tokyo.
"This is the first time that Japan has made its stance clear; in the past, Japan has been very indirect on the Taiwan issue," said Koh Se-kai, Taiwan's special representative to Japan. "We're relieved that Japan has become more assertive."
There was no immediate reaction from China.
The agreement to be announced tomorrow declaring security in the Taiwan Strait as a "common strategic objective" of Washington and Tokyo is the most significant alteration since 1996 of the US-Japanese Security Alliance, the daily said.
"It would be wrong for us to send a signal to China that the United States and Japan will watch and tolerate China's military invasion of Taiwan," said Shinzo Abe, the acting secretary general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who is widely considered a likely successor to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
"If the situation surrounding Japan threatens our security, Japan can provide US forces with support," he added.
"We consider China a friendly country, but it is also unpredictable," an unidentified senior Japanese government official was quoted as saying in The Washington Post.
"If it takes aggressive action, Japan cannot just stand by and watch," he added.
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday welcomed the expected agreement.
"Although the MND hasn't received any information about such an agreement from the US or Japan, the MND welcomes any force which could stabilize the Taiwan Strait, " ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Liou Chih-chien (
Liou said that if the US and Japan really see security in the Taiwan Strait as a "common strategic objective," it would enhance Taiwan's determination to defend and deter a military attack from China.
Today's US-Japan talks are a necessary prelude to decisions on how to realign the nearly 50,000 US forces in Japan, part of a global transformation of the US military to cope with new threats such as terrorism.
Japan is leaning toward a bigger role as a strategic hub from which US forces can respond to threats in an "arc of instability" from the Middle East to the Koreas, a shift seen by many experts as an expansion of the alliance.
Both Washington and Tokyo are clearly eyeing Beijing's military buildup askance.
"Beijing's military modernization and military buildup is tilting the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait," CIA Director Porter Goss told a Senate panel on Wednesday. "Chinese capabilities threaten US forces in the region."
China quickly denounced the CIA assessment, saying the remarks sent the wrong signal to Taiwan.
Japan has also become increasingly outspoken in expressing its concerns about China's military modernization.
additional reporting by Rich Chang
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS