Japan will prepare for "any development" over the situation surrounding Taiwan, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Monday, as China conducted large-scale military drills around the island.
"Peace and security in and around the Taiwan Strait are an extremely important issue for the region. Japan will carefully monitor the situation," Ishiba told reporters. "We will prepare to respond to any development."
Earlier in the day, Ishiba met with his defense and foreign ministers.
"We will be watching (the Chinese exercises) with great interest," Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters after the meeting at the headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Nakatani also said there is a possibility that missiles will fly into waters near Japan and that the Self-Defense Forces will take every precaution to gather information and monitor the situation.
The Chinese military conducted the drills as "a stern warning" to those seeking Taiwan's independence, ratcheting up pressure after the territory's President Lai Ching-te reiterated last week that the two sides are not subordinate to each other.
© KYODO
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TaiwanIsNotChina
Let's hope "preparing for any development" means preparing to defend Taiwan.
Samit Basu
@TaiwanIsNotChina
Unfortunately, it simply means ensuring the war not spilling over to Japan and organizing a quick evacuation of Japanese and critical Taiwanese VIP individuals(aka TSMC senior engineers and executives) to Japan....
garymalmgren
Preparing for a massive inflow of refugees?
It is happening around the world, so there is no reason to think that Japan would be immune.
Mike_Oxlong
A rather bellicose statement by the new PM. Is he spoiling for a fight?
voiceofokinawa
Taiwan used to be IJ's colony. Japan returned it to China in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration.
Soon after, Chang Kai Shek's Kuo Ming Tang Party fled to Taiwan as the result of the ongoing civil war with Mao Tse Tang's Communist Party.
The Taiwan issue must be considered in this context.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Yup. Taiwan is rightfully the property of the government in Taipei.
PTownsend
What might the Over/under be on whether Xi will lie like his pal Putin did, that it's only a drill, we're not going to invade?
Fos
@ Samit Basu
You are absolutely right. If it wasn’t for “the interest of advanced chips” in Taiwan, Washington would turn their attention to a different part of the word to wage another full scale war, where they can obtain economic interests. Building up the case against China from nothing, and anticipating who knows what for the sake of their commercial investments. I find it ridiculous.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Fully explains the 75 year commitment to defend Taiwan. /s
obladi
Despite all the rhetoric, what China wants from Taiwan are microchips. And, despite all the efforts of the U.S. and Japan, China is getting them. What say you to this Mr. Ishiba?
Zaphod
TaiwanIsNotChina
...and on what legal basis would that be? Japan does not legally recognize Taiwan as a country, so legally that would be interfering in a civil war.
How about officially recognizing Taiwans independence before talking big?
Fos
@ TaiwanIsNotChina
As far as we know U.S. does not support de jure Taiwan independence. Only in the past few years, to please their military apparatus and the Wall Street mercenaries, they are looking for fresh meat where to turn their attention since they have already placed good orders to destabilize Middle East and Europe. If you add the fact Taiwan produce advance quality chips, then it is the perfect script for the 5 stars generals at the Pentagon. If you ask 4 Americans out of 5 where is Taiwan, they would probably think is Marvel character.
Ricky Kaminski13
It sounds like it’s on. Japan and China may start testing their military tech on each other even without an invasion of Taiwan.
The minute Japan starts knocking these missiles out of the air, that could be the start. We had three representatives of the SDF at a festival the other day. Got to have a chat with them too. They seemed very aligned and focused on what may lie ahead. They seemed confident too. Is this that generation? Hopefully it’s just a small window of chaos right now and things will settle down with a change of leadership in the states. America, choose wisely! Stakes are sort of high right now!