As reported in the Japan Times on March 21, Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin agreed to “closely cooperate in the event of a military clash between China and Taiwan.” Kishi further emphasized a need to study ways for the Japan Self-Defense Forces to cooperate with the US military in defending Taiwan in the event of an attack.
Both Japan and the US recognize the necessity to jointly defend Taiwan.
On Oct. 4, 2018, former US vice president Mike Pence in a speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington said that “China now spends as much on its military as the rest of Asia combined, and Beijing has prioritized capabilities to erode America’s military advantages on land, at sea, in the air and in space. China wants nothing less than to push the United States of America from the Western Pacific and attempt to prevent us from coming to the aid of our allies.”
Without the US’ help, would Japan surrender to China?
The Japanese should be fully aware of China’s deep hatred toward Japan. During the First Sino-Japanese War from 1894 to 1895, China was humiliated when it was forced to retreat from the Korean Peninsula and cede Taiwan to Japan.
In World War II, a lot of Chinese were killed, particularly in the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 and 1938, when, by China’s official estimate, about 300,000 Chinese were killed, although Japan does not agree with such a high figure.
The Chinese want revenge, if they have the opportunity.
China’s plan is to take over Taiwan first. Chinese military strategists have already discussed the prospect of using Taiwan’s military bases to cut off Japan’s air and sea routes, and to attack Okinawa and Honshu.
Taiwan has about 12,000 missiles of various types, one of the highest missile densities in the world. If Taiwan cannot fend off a Chinese invasion, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam would easily succumb under Chinese military coercion, and Japan would be isolated.
If China moves long-range missiles and other military assets onto Taiwan and launches submarines from deep-sea harbors on the eastern coast of Taiwan, the US might have to withdraw from its nearby military bases on Okinawa.
It would become dangerous for US warships to patrol the western Pacific and they might have to move back to the eastern Pacific to protect their homeland.
Under such circumstances, would Washington still honor its commitments under the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security?
Taiwan’s security is Japan’s security. Japan should not be afraid of Chinese military power and should take the following actions: Send warships to patrol the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, help Taiwan to greatly bolster its defense systems, hold military exercises with Taiwan to avoid friendly fire and assist Taiwan by sinking Chinese warships in the event of an invasion.
Kenneth Wang is a founder of the Institute of Taiwanese Studies in Los Angeles, a former president of the Taiwanese American Center in San Diego, California, and a former president of the US West Coast Taiwanese Summer Conferences.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has offered Taiwan a paradoxical mix of reassurance and risk. Trump’s visceral hostility toward China could reinforce deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. Yet his disdain for alliances and penchant for transactional bargaining threaten to erode what Taiwan needs most: a reliable US commitment. Taiwan’s security depends less on US power than on US reliability, but Trump is undermining the latter. Deterrence without credibility is a hollow shield. Trump’s China policy in his second term has oscillated wildly between confrontation and conciliation. One day, he threatens Beijing with “massive” tariffs and calls China America’s “greatest geopolitical
On Sunday, 13 new urgent care centers (UCC) officially began operations across the six special municipalities. The purpose of the centers — which are open from 8am to midnight on Sundays and national holidays — is to reduce congestion in hospital emergency rooms, especially during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year. It remains to be seen how effective these centers would be. For one, it is difficult for people to judge for themselves whether their condition warrants visiting a major hospital or a UCC — long-term public education and health promotions are necessary. Second, many emergency departments acknowledge
US President Donald Trump’s seemingly throwaway “Taiwan is Taiwan” statement has been appearing in headlines all over the media. Although it appears to have been made in passing, the comment nevertheless reveals something about Trump’s views and his understanding of Taiwan’s situation. In line with the Taiwan Relations Act, the US and Taiwan enjoy unofficial, but close economic, cultural and national defense ties. They lack official diplomatic relations, but maintain a partnership based on shared democratic values and strategic alignment. Excluding China, Taiwan maintains a level of diplomatic relations, official or otherwise, with many nations worldwide. It can be said that
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) made the astonishing assertion during an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, published on Friday last week, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a dictator. She also essentially absolved Putin of blame for initiating the war in Ukraine. Commentators have since listed the reasons that Cheng’s assertion was not only absurd, but bordered on dangerous. Her claim is certainly absurd to the extent that there is no need to discuss the substance of it: It would be far more useful to assess what drove her to make the point and stick so
RSS