Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday.
Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote.
To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said.
Photo: AP
Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence Party.
Yara denied receiving funding from China, but said that an independent Ryukyu would not need to fear Chinese invasion or economic pressure.
“China could have taken full control of the Ryukyus in the past, but it never did. Instead, it was the Japanese who invaded and forcibly established Okinawa Prefecture,” the Telegraph cited Yara as saying.
Beijing was also allegedly “playing up economic problems” in Okinawa, Japan’s poorest prefecture, the newspaper said.
Chinese state media tends to highlight crimes committed by US military personnel stationed in the region, and emphasize that while Okinawa only accounts for 0.6 percent of Japan’s total land area, it hosts 70 percent of all US military bases in the country, it said.
Chinese officials have allegedly approached ethnic Chinese living in Okinawa to help set up an “underground police station,” similar to those in other countries around the world, but those efforts were “understood to have been rebuffed,” it said.
Beijing is also believed to be spreading propaganda about Okinawa in China, with videos circulating on Chinese social media claiming that most residents in Okinawa support independence.
The Telegraph said that Japanese weekly news magazine Shukan Gendai reported that China plans to establish a “Ryukyu Research Center” at Dalian Maritime University, where academics would “strengthen China’s claims internationally” to the prefecture’s islands.
Chinese Society of the Law of the Sea president Gao Zhiguo (高之國) previously said that the “Ryukyu issue” concerns China’s “national security and national reunification.”
“This issue has profound political and historical significance, and various risk preparation plans and response measures must be prepared,” he said, alluding to Okinawa’s sovereignty and the US presence in the region.
Meanwhile, Beijing has been waging a “diplomatic charm offensive,” the British daily wrote, adding that senior Chinese officials have visited Okinawa on several occasions over the past year, including China’s consul general in Fukuoka, Yang Qingdong (楊慶東), who visited the prefecture twice in six months.
Yang was previously a Chinese intelligence official, and has held a post related to the administration of Chinese claims in the South China Sea, it said.
“I’m absolutely sure the Chinese are already in Okinawa and are trying to influence public opinion and their elected officials,” it cited Japanese Conservative Party official Yoichi Shimada as saying.
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki “is a weak politician and he has welcomed friendly approaches from China because he is too trusting,” the Telegraph quoted Shimada as saying.
Tamaki visited China in the summer of 2023, during which he told Chinese state-run Global Times that he supported strengthening cultural, economic and other exchanges with China, it said.
Tamaki told the Chinese daily that the basic rights of Okinawans had been violated, and that “all Okinawans sincerely hope that Okinawa will never be forced to become a battlefield again.”
In Taipei, Kuma Academy chief executive officer Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) yesterday said that the US’ military bases in Okinawa are its closest to Taiwan and are key to the defense of the first island chain.
In particular, the US’ navy, air force and Marine Corps facilities and troops in Okinawa could quickly provide support to Taiwan in the event of a conflict with China, he said.
“Therefore, the neutralization of Okinawa is key to China’s military strategy. That is why it must erode the US-Japan security arrangement, and weaken the stability of the two countries’ joint defenses,” he said.
Taiwan should take the opportunity to negotiate with Japan on strengthening economic, trade and cultural exchanges with Okinawa to counter China’s attempts at influence and infiltration in the prefecture, he said.
“Deepening cooperation in areas such as the fisheries and the supply of daily necessities to Okinawa could be mutually beneficial,” he added. “We could consolidate our economic and strategic interests.”
Taiwan should fully use its geographical advantages, and work with friendly countries to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
Additional reporting by Fang Wei-li
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS