As US puts heat on China, Japan under pressure to side with Taiwan
Japan’s long-held ambiguity towards Taiwan has enabled it to keep official ties with Beijing, while staying in favour with Taipei
US pressure, concerns over Beijing’s perceived aggression and a shared history with its island neighbour mean Japan may need to make its position clear
For decades, Japan’s security relationship with Taiwan has been left deliberately vague. But in the wake of the recent visit to Tokyo of the US secretary of state and the secretary of defence, during which security and the rise of China dominated the agenda, Japan’s leaders are likely to come under pressure to make their stance more explicit.
Advertisement
Japan’s ambiguity has until now enabled it to enjoy cordial relations with both Beijing and Taipei. Tokyo officially accepts Beijing’s ‘One China’ principle – that mainland China and the island of Taiwan are both part of the same country – and consequently has formal diplomatic relations with Beijing and not Taipei. However, on an unofficial level, ties between Japan and Taiwan are strong, due to shared history and cultural values.
While in the past Japan could get by with this ambiguity, experts say a confluence of factors – including growing pressure from the US, shared security concerns over Beijing’s perceived aggression towards Taiwan, and a Japanese public that is largely sympathetic to its island neighbour – is putting Tokyo under pressure to clarify its stance.
Recent moves by Beijing to step up military exercises around Taiwan – which Beijing regards as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary – have been widely interpreted in Japan as an effort to destabilise or intimidate the island and have consequently united the Japanese public behind it. The politicians appear to be listening – the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has a team dedicated to discussing how to keep Japan in line with the Taiwan policies of the new US administration of President Joe Biden.
Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, left, and Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s foreign minister, attend a joint news conference in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Bloomberg
“Taiwan is geopolitically important not only for Japan and China but for the whole world, and China’s military aggression against Taiwan will have a serious negative impact on the world economy,” said Jin Matsubara, a former chairman of the National Public Safety Commission and presently a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the centre-left party that is the largest opposition force.
