Japan, U.S. agree to cooperate over possible Taiwan-China military clash

Japan and the U.S. have agreed to closely cooperate in the event of a military clash between China and Taiwan, Kyodo News reported on Monday, citing Japanese government sources.

Taiwan was discussed during the Japanese and U.S. defence ministerial meeting when visiting U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin brought up the issue of Taiwan during talks with Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi.

The Japanese sources, however, said there was no discussion on how their countries should coordinate their response to such an emergency.

Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the south-eastern coast of mainland China, in spite of the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.

Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the U.S., which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing.

Regarding Taiwan issues, a statement issued after talks involving Kishi and Austin, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, as well as Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, had only called for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

In the earlier meeting with Austin, Kishi referred to a recent increase in the number of Chinese warplanes crossing the median line in the Taiwan Strait and a need to study ways for the Japanese Self-Defence Forces to cooperate with U.S. forces defending Taiwan in the event of China’s aggression, they said.

China has ramped up military aggression in the Taiwan Strait in recent months.

Since early September, for instance, China has been carrying out the provocative and sustained show of forces in the Taiwan Strait.

Over the past few months, Taiwan has reported incursions by Chinese warplanes into Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) almost daily.
China has threatened that “Taiwan’s independence” means war.

Wu Qian, spokesperson of China’s Ministry of National Defence, on Jan. 28 “warned” the people wanting “Taiwan independence” and said that “those who play with fire will set themselves on fire, and seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ means nothing but war.”

According to an article by The Global Times, a Chinese state media, Taiwan’s “mainland affairs council” has warned that any of the mainland’s words and deeds that deliberately provoke Taiwan’s bottom line may cause far-reaching effects that the mainland cannot bear.