Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is in Tokyo, the final leg of her Asia tour which has included a rare visit to Taiwan. China reacted by carrying out the largest military maneuvers in its history around Taiwan, considered a rebellious Chinese province by Beijing. At the end of his talks with Nancy Pelosi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida confirmed that Japan and the United States ” cooperate closely to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait “.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s statement on close cooperation between Japan and the United States to maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait is clear. Faced with China and Russia, Japan, which calls for the “immediate cessation of Chinese military exercises”, is fully committed alongside its American ally and protector, reports our correspondent in Tokyo,Frederic Charles.
The last Japanese island, Yonaguni, in the very south of the Ojinawa archipelago, is about a hundred kilometers from Taiwan. Chinese ballistic missiles reportedly flew over Taiwan and some fell for the first time in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. “Japan has lodged a protest with China through diplomatic channels,” Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kish said, citing the figure of nine Chinese missiles fired, five of which appear to have crashed southwest of Japan. Japanese island of Hateruma. From China, it’s a way to intimidate Tokyo. These Chinese missile launches are a “ serious problem that affects our national security “said the head of the Japanese government.
The rise of China has pushed Japan to reinterpret its pacifist Constitution to allow its army to participate in collective defense operations abroad. In the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, the Japanese military will provide logistical support to the US Seventh Pacific Fleet.
Japan has previously asserted that an invasion of Taiwan would be a ” existential threat for the country. Because such an invasion would block the Taiwan Strait through which most of the Indo-Pacific trade passes.
The Japanese feel close and worried about the future of Taiwan. The majority of them are, this is new, in favor of doubling military spending from 1 to 2% of GDP. The right in power, it plays on this concern to promote a revision of the pacifist Constitution.
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The war in Ukraine and, who knows, in Taiwan soon. Whereas tomorrow will be the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima… that’s scary. And one wonders when man, this war madman, will understand that it is peace that he should cherish…
Report: renewed tensions that the Japanese live with apprehension
♦ How are the Taiwanese coping with this ordeal?
The Chinese army may well have deployed its ships in the Taiwan Strait and its helicopters in the sky, nothing helps, the Taiwanese still do not give in to panic, far from it. ” They’ve been trying to scare us for years, even decades, says a young woman at the microphone of RFI. We’re used to it now, with each new threat we just think it’s off again, but no one here is worried or preparing for the worst. »
However, China has launched operations on an unprecedented scale with ballistic missiles that would have flown over the island, all in a context of growing tensions in the region. An explosive cocktail that could lead to a change of mentality, according to Taiwanese historian Li Xiao Feng: ” The movements of Chinese planes are more and more incessant near Taiwan. And this causes greater mistrust from some Taiwanese, as well as from the government which is preparing the population with rescue exercises. »
Chinese military exercises are scheduled to last until Sunday around Taiwan.
► To read also: China fired ‘multiple’ ballistic missiles in major drills, Taiwan says