Japan unprepared for Taiwan crisis fallout if China pursues ‘military reunification’ route: ex-navy chief

Name: China calls Japan ‘irresponsible’ over Tokyo’s ‘sense of crisis’ for Taiwan Strait tensions
Uploaded: 2021-09-30T11:00:18.000Z
Duration: 40 s
Description: China calls Japan ‘irresponsible’ over Tokyo’s ‘sense of crisis’ for Taiwan Strait tensions

Yoji Koda, who retired from the Maritime Self-Defence Forces in 2008, says Japanese policymakers and people should prepare for conflict between the US and China in the Taiwan Strait

His comments come as Fumio Kishida was elected to lead Japan’s ruling LDP party, making him prime minister. Tokyo’s outspokenness on Taipei has soured relations with Beijing

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The American missile destroyer USS Barry transits through the Taiwan Strait on September 17. Photo: US Navy

Julian Ryall

Published: 7:00pm, 30 Sep 2021Updated: 10:27pm, 30 Sep 2021

A former commander of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Forces (MSDF) has warned that policymakers and people in the country are unprepared for conflict in the Taiwan Strait, simply because the thought is too unpalatable.

In an opinion piece for the right-leaning Sankei newspaper, Yoji Koda, who retired as commander in chief of the MSDF in 2008, said there would be “devastating” consequences if Japan was unprepared for an emergency involving Taiwan.

China sees the self-ruled island as part of its territory and has vowed to take back control, by force if necessary. It has warned countries against forging official contacts with Taipei as a condition of bilateral relations with Beijing.

Former senior mainland official Sun Yafu earlier this week said a war over Taiwan was unlikely now, but the tension in the Taiwan Strait would intensify in the years to come, with a range of possibilities – from armed conflict to talks – over the next decade.

Koda, now a senior fellow at the Harvard University Asia Centre, said: “It is not definite that China will pursue the military reunification route.

“Nevertheless, there is no excuse for completely closing one’s eyes to what might happen. We should not forget that China’s use of force in a Taiwan invasion is one of the more convincing options in some circumstances from a military perspective.”

Koda pointed to Beijing’s island-building efforts in the disputed South China Sea as an example of how it was seeking to “make its own rules and [trying] to impose those as the new international standard”.

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China calls Japan ‘irresponsible’ over Tokyo’s ‘sense of crisis’ for Taiwan Strait tensions