Japan's military has drawn up a defense plan that refers to the possibility of an invasion by China, the Asahi Shimbun national daily said yesterday.
In one scenario, drawn up at a time of tense relations between Tokyo and Beijing, China occupies the disputed islands known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China.
In another scenario, the plan reportedly also lays out the possibility of a military conflict between China and Taiwan, with the US backing Taiwan.
In the scenario, Japan would support such US operations and might come under attack from China.
However, the top-secret plan, drawn up by senior officers in what Japan calls the Ground Self-Defense Force, says there is only a slight possibility of an attack by China, the paper said.
The plan laid out various possibilities for a period between last year through 2008 and is considered a national secret, the newspaper said.
Although the plan does not expect a Japan-China conflict to become a serious possibility, it shows for the first time that Japanese defense officials formulated military strategies to counter China, the Asahi said.
This reflects a shift from their previous focus on a possible Soviet attack in northern Japan, it said.
The report comes weeks after a separate Japanese defense white paper referred to the need to monitor Chinese military modernization, sparking an angry reaction from Beijing.
Japan and China are at loggerheads over a range of issues from rights over natural resources in the East China Sea to the way World War II history is taught in Japanese schools.
Earlier this month, Japan said it had sighted five Chinese warships in the East China Sea, where China is developing a gas field close to an area also claimed by Japan.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
RSS