Wed, Nov 23, 2022 page3

• Japan strategy paper to list China as challenge

  BEIJNG’S THREATS: The national strategy document is to emphasize the importance of Taiwan’s security to maintain peace in the region, a newspaper report said

  • By Lin Tsuei-yi and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter in Tokyo, with staff writer
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  Japan’s national security strategy document, which is set to be published late next month, is expected to stress the importance of Taiwan’s security, and name China as a challenge to Japanese interests in alignment with NATO’s new strategic concept, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Monday.

  The document is to emphasize the importance of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait in response to Beijing’s ratcheting up of military threats against Taipei, the newspaper said, citing officials and other sources close to Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

  The document would guide Japan’s national security and diplomatic policy in the next 10 years. In June, NATO revised its strategic concept for the first time this decade to call China a “systemic challenge” to the alliance’s security, interests and values.

  

  The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s multipurpose destroyer Izumo leads a fleet during the International Fleet Review to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the self-defense force at Sagami Bay, off Yokosuka, Japan, on Nov. 6.

  Photo: Reuters / Kyodo news

  Japan’s new strategy would formulate a stance with regard to the increasing threat that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) poses to countries in China’s periphery, the Yomiuri said.

  The previous document published in 2013 said that risks to the global community had been increasing due partly to Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea. It also said Taiwan-China ties contain the potential for instability.

  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government and the LDP agreed that the revised strategy must reflect the sense of crisis in Japan caused by Chinese coast guard intrusions into the waters near the Senkaku Islands, the newspaper said.

  Taiwan and China also lay claim to the islands, which they call the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).

  The LDP had previously asked that the new document label China as a “severe threat” to Japanese interests, but the language would likely be dialed down due to opposition from other members of the ruling coalition, it said.

  Additionally, Tokyo felt a need to acknowledge NATO’s strategic concept and US President Joe Biden’s National Security Strategy unveiled last month that identified China as “America’s most consequential geopolitical challenge,” it said.

  The Kishida government and a majority of LDP members believe that labeling China as a challenge is reasonable in light of Japan’s desire to deter Beijing through an alliance with the US, while at the same time seeking a constructive and stable relationship with it, the newspaper said.

  In related news, 74 percent of Japanese oppose or generally oppose deploying the Japan Self-Defense Forces to defend Taiwan alongside the US military, a poll showed.

  The survey showed that 22 percent of respondents support or generally support deploying the Japanese military to counter Chinese aggression against Taiwan in alliance with the US.

  Seventy-six percent of respondents said they are highly concerned about the risk of Japan being attacked by a foreign power, greatly exceeding the share of respondents who felt little to no concern, the poll showed.

  About 79 percent of respondents reported somewhat or greatly feeling a sense of crisis over the potential of an emergency occurring in Taiwan, it said.

  The survey, conducted by the Japan Press Research Institute, was published on Nov. 13 by Jiji Press.

  It was conducted from Aug. 26 to Sept, 12 and collected 2,993 responses from Japanese over 18.

  Additional reporting by CNA
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