Japan's plan to redraw its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) westward, overlapping with parts of Taiwan's own zone, has serious implications for Taiwan, and the government's outright opposition represents a missed opportunity for dialogue and reaffirming relations, academics said.
A report by Sankei Shinbum on May 26 said Japan brought up the issue with Taiwan through the Interchange Association (Japan) in Taipei, which represents Japanese interests in the absence of diplomatic ties.
On May 29, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying it found the expansion plan “unacceptable,” citing “integrity of the nation's airspace and sovereignty” and expressed “regrets over Japan coming to a decision without consulting Taiwan in advance.”
Commenting on the matter, former Taiwanese representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government's handling of the case was in line with its foreign policy, which Wu described as “pandering to China while distancing [Taiwan] from the US and Japan.”
Saying that AIDZ demarcation is “not a zero-sum issue,” Wu said the government should have sat down and negotiated a compromise with Japan instead of flatly rejecting a possible rezoning.
“Rejecting the plan was not necessarily in our interests, as we have to consider the possibility that Japan might side with us if conflict arises in our relationship with China and vice versa. Taiwan is Japan's ally on many issues such as North Korea,” said Wu, a research fellow at National Chengchi University's Institute of International Relations.
Given Taiwan and Japan's various common interests, it was inappropriate for the government to elevate the issue to a question of sovereignty and incite anti-Japanese sentiment in Taiwan.
Wu said the real issue that the government failed to mention was that it is China's rapidly growing military buildup that prompted Japan to make the move.
After the end of World War II, the US military drew the AIDZ for Yonaguni Island, Japan's westernmost territory, which lies 108km from Taiwan's east coast. The air space above the western two-thirds of the island now falls under Taiwan's ADIZ.
According to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), although Taiwan holds jurisdiction over this airspace, it has never operated military aircraft within the 12 nautical miles (22km) west of Yonaguni and thus poses no threat to the integrity of Japan's territorial air space.
During a meeting of the legislature's Foreign and National Defense Committee on May 31, Lin asked Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) to explain why Japan suddenly wanted to make the change.
In response, Yang said it was because the Japanese government, headed by then-prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, wished to meet the demands of residents of the island to ease public dissatisfaction with him backtracking on his pledge to move Futenma, the US army base, from Okinawa, Yang said.
Hatoyama resigned as Japan's prime minister on June 2.
Wang Kun-yi (王崑義), adjunct professor at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said he found Yang's explanation unconvincing.
“If the rationale behind the Japanese decision to move its ADIZ westward was as simple as [Yang had said], Hatoyama would not have had to step down,” Wang said.
Wang said Tokyo was concerned that the cross-strait detente might give China a chance to expand beyond the island chain, the first line of defense for the US-Japan alliance to prevent China from enhancing its clout in the Pacific.
“It could be seen as a preemptive action against a possible loophole in the first island chain, as Yonaguni occupies a key strategic location in the chain. Given the US-Japan security alliance in the region, Japan would not have made the move without US backing,” he said.
Regaining jurisdiction of the air space above Yonaguni Island would help Japan better monitor the Chinese People's Liberation Army's maneuvers and trace the progress of its blue-water ambition, Wang observed.
“Several large-scale exercises conducted by China in the East China Sea and the frequent appearance of Chinese ocean research vessels in the Pacific waters pose serious threats to Japan,” he said. “The [Taiwanese] government's cross-strait policy has also made Japan feel insecure about looking to Taiwan to contain China.”
During a roundtable discussion with local reporters on June 4, American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt was asked about the US’ position on the matter. Burrhardt did not answer, saying he was not sure about the accuracy of the report in the Japanese newspaper.
Yang Chun-chih (楊鈞池), an associate professor specializing in East Asia research at National Kaohsiung University, said the move could be seen as a continuation of a plan Japan had came up with at the end of 2008 to station army personnel on Yonaguni and establish a radar detection facility.
The KMT government expressed its opposition to the plan then, citing national security concerns as Taiwan's military activities would be exposed to the radar system if it is launched, Yang said.
“Likewise, if Japan redraws its ADIZ, it would also cause security concerns in Taiwan,” he said.
“Taiwan should conduct sincere talks with Japan on this for its own interests. [The talks] could also boost bilateral relations [as it could be a medium for Japan to air] any doubts over improvements in cross-strait ties,” Yang said.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
China’s newest Type-076 amphibious assault ship has two strengths and weaknesses, wrote a Taiwanese defense expert, adding that further observations of its capabilities are warranted. Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), an assistant researcher at the National Defense and Security Research, made the comments in a report recently published by the institute about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military and political development. China christened its new assault ship Sichuan in a ceremony on Dec. 27 last year at Shanghai’s Hudong Shipyard, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. “The vessel, described as the world’s largest amphibious assault ship by the [US think tank] Center for Strategic and International
RSS