Japan and the US are planning a joint naval exercise in southwestern Japanese waters later this year near islets disputed with Taiwan and China, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday.
The war games in December, to be joined by the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, are based on a scenario involving Japan recapturing an unnamed remote southwestern island from an enemy, the paper reported without citing sources.
Japan is to send fighters and patrol planes, as well as 250 paratroopers from transport planes guarded by F-15 fighters in the drill in Oita Prefecture, near Okinawa, the report said.
PHOTO: AFP/JIJI PRESS
The US and Japan usually stage their naval exercises east of Japan in the Pacific Ocean.
A Pentagon report warned this week that China’s rising defense power is changing East Asia’s military balance, a view shared by Japan, which has protested over several tense naval incidents with China this year.
INCIDENTS
Tokyo protested in April after a Chinese naval helicopter made a close fly-by of one of its destroyers on the high seas off the uninhabited Diaoyutais (釣魚台) — which are called Senkaku in Japan — during exercises.
A similar incident took place near the Ryukus in the same month, when 10 Chinese naval vessels, including two submarines, were seen sailing through international waters between Japan’s southernmost islands.
Japan’s defense ministry has said it will review the basing of its ground forces in coming years to strengthen the defense of the southwestern islands.
Meanwhile, Japanese foreign ministry press secretary Kazuo Kodama said the Senkaku are subject to the Japan-US security treaty, stressing that the allies would “respond together” to any attack there.
“We have not been notified by the United States that it has changed its stance” on the handling of the islands, Kodama said.
“It is natural that Japan and the United States respond together” if the islands are attacked, he said.
VIEW FROM TAIPEI
The Ministry of National Defense said it was verifying the report on the drills, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) reiterated Taiwan’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.
Deputy foreign ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) said if the joint military exercise is to take place near the Diaoyutais, the ministry wanted to make clear that the atolls are the territory of the Republic of China (ROC) and there was no doubt that the ROC government has sovereignty over the islands.
Chang urged all involved to set their differences aside and seek acceptable solutions through rational and peaceful means.
DEFENSE REVIEW
In related news, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan met his military chiefs yesterday ahead of a review that could lead to the biggest changes in defense policy in years, including easing restraints imposed by the Constitution drawn up after World War II.
A panel of experts is likely to issue recommendations this month for a policy review expected to be finished by year-end, with media reports saying it will urge Japan to to beef up its ability to respond to multiple attacks and also review a defense posture that relies heavily on the US nuclear deterrent.
“The role of the Self-Defense Forces is becoming increasingly important for the peace of Japan,” Kan said. “I want you to give me your candid views.
Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa told reporters after the meeting that Kan and the four chiefs of staff discussed issues including North Korea and China, but he did not elaborate.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING, VINCENT Y. CHAO AND STAFF WRITER
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary