An independent Taiwan is in the best interest of Japan’s national security, three Japanese academics said at a forum in Taipei yesterday, calling Taiwan “Japan’s lifeline” because of its geographic importance.
Gomi Mutsuyoshi, a research associate who specializes in navy warfare at the Defense Research Center (DRC) in Japan, told an audience at a forum hosted by the Taiwan National Security Institute that Taiwan’s position in the middle of the Pacific Asian region would be highly coveted by any country that seeks to dominate the area.
“Japan is an oceanic country that relies heavily on the use of sea lanes, especially the East Sea [Sea of Japan], for foreign exported natural resources such as oil. For the Japanese, security on the sea lane is a matter of life and death,” he said.
If China annexed Taiwan, he said, the Chinese would undoubtedly use Taiwan as a navy base to bolster its influence over the region, which would directly threaten Japan’s mobility and national security.
“Taiwan is Japan’s lifeline,” he said. “We as Japanese must be keenly aware of the negative causal effects of being complacent about China’s ambition to take over Taiwan.”
DRC director Ueda Naruhiko said that at the moment Japanese commercial fleets have few problems while traveling in the vicinity of Taiwan, but the situation could take a sharp downward turn if Taiwan unifies with China.
“The Japanese people should view the Taiwan Strait security issue as an issue of their own,” he said. “While it is important to maintain a friendly Japan-China relationship, we also must actively contemplate building positive working relations with Taiwan.”
Sugiyama Katsumi, another DRC research associate and a Meikai University professor, told the forum that Taiwanese, being historically agrarian and nomadic, possess the rare genetic make-up to be aggressive and pacifying at the same time, which makes Taiwanese ideal to help contribute to solving some of the world’s major conflicts.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS