Japan discusses regional defense in rare visit to Taiwan

Biden reiterated the one China policy,why did China not threatened the Paper Tiger

Dear Japan: I love you so much but...

Why do you dedicate yourself to doing stupid things just because the lost, decadent and power-hungry US barks at anyone who attempts against its fantasy of an unipolar world at its selfish convenience??...

Do not get involved in this matter just to please the US, it is better a million times to be neutral, and to have good relations with the NEXT world power that it's very close to you. And not with a decadent power that is on the other side of the Pacific and will never do something really to help you if you would sink, and running away when this happens..

Geopolitics is a matter of survival, not of pleasing the one who hypocritically claims to be your friend writing your own constitution..

Taiwan is clearly, by any measure, an independent country. Economy and trade, government/politics/elections, military, customs and borders, domestic and international affairs- all administered and controlled by itself, answering to no other country. Irrespective of its past, those are the facts today and for the past 77 years at least.

Taiwan, along with other sovereign countries, like Japan here, have every right and interest to work together on mutual defense as mutual partners.

China can threaten all it wants, militarize the seas all it wants, and everyday it makes it clearer and clearer that it is the threat to free peoples.

Tokyo,the US is why you are speaking Chinese

@TokyoLiving, you’re either living under a rock, Chinese or just totally ignorant of geopolitics. China will never ever be a “world power” on the scale of the US. China is a regional power at best. Makes total sense for Japanese politicians to pay a visit to Taiwan. The US ain’t perfect but I prefer the Americans over the Chinese. At least the Americans don’t put 2 million indigenous muslims in “reeducation” prison camps because of their religion.

If the PRC ever so much as touched free Taiwan, they will regret it.

Japan - and the free world - has Taiwan's back. Looking forward to more visits from Japanese and US politicians - including Pelosi.

What you gonna do crybaby China?

Nothing wrong, Peace preserved with strength and the full understanding of the opposites intentions, China keeps sending the wrong signals and the region is on edge, it take one miscalculation from either side and we could have a war in the Indo - Pacific. China and Taiwan must reach out and work towards peace and prosperity for their people.

Good! Time to put Japanese troops on Taiwan.

Taiwan needs air and sea upgrade. The F-35b variant (so that they can land at unimproved strips when the air fields get degraded) would fit the bill. A more resilient and robust missile defense system that is not easily overwhelmed and an ability to prevent sea lanes from being chocked off. Quite a few submarines of the electric deiseal variety one would assume. Japan could help here if it could export weapons as my understanding is that Japan is a world leader in quiet DE sub technology.

China knows that an actual invasion would be a blood bath for it's ground forces, so it is much more likely to try to starve it into submission while degrading its infrastructure through attrition via air and missile assault. Taiwan must be equipped to withstand the air strikes and to prevent the loss of supply lines.

And in my own opinion, the best way to hold the PRC at bay would be the ability to hold it's own industrial and military centers at risk. That would entail a force projection capability. Such a move might be escalatory, but the CCP shows every sign of attempting an "absorption" via the threat of overwhelming force. At stand must be taken eventually. Taiwan and it's democratic allies should make their stand while it is still logistically possible.

@Nemo

The F-35b variant (so that they can land at unimproved strips when the air fields get degraded) would fit the bill.

China would put a $100 million bounty on the F-35; the first Taiwanese pilot to defect with an F-35 would get that $100 million bounty.

This is why the US never sells anything better than the F-16 to Taiwan.

Good! Time to put Japanese troops on Taiwan.

Have YOU signed up for the SDF?

Are YOU personally ready to go and fight in Taiwan?

Didn't think so

China would put a $100 million bounty on the F-35; the first Taiwanese pilot to defect with an F-35 would get that $100 million bounty.

My, what a creative "reality" you exist in. But this isn't CCP fan fiction. This is reality. Perhaps you would be more, um...."comfortable" over at RT or whatever Weibo page the Beijing overlords "manage"?

@Nemo

This is reality.

Indeed, the reality.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/08/13/taiwan-pilot-wins-370000-for-flying-f5f-to-mainland/e185fb22-a27a-48f2-8973-143128530dff/

Taiwan Pilot Wins $370,000 For Flying F5F to Mainland

China has paid a cash reward of $370,000 to a Taiwanese Air Force major who defected to the mainland last weekend in an American-built reconnaissance plane, Peking radio reported tonight.

At today's price, the 7,000 taels of gold offered in 1978 would be worth $3.3 million. Instead, Huang was reported to receive 650,000 yuan, worth $370,000.

$100 million Chinese bounty on an F-35? You got it!

@The Trees

Obviously you are clearly not aware of the fact that Taiwan is officially the Republic Of China

Taiwan has not claimed independence .

Taiwan claims to be the rightful government of all China.

And so...

Taiwan and China are technically still engaged in a civil war as only a ceasefire was agreed.

You do know what a civil war is i presume ?

If they want to be the independent republic of Taiwan thats great , however that has yet to happen.

Formosa Taiwan did achieve independence at one time but for only 5 months before Japan colonized it for 50 years.

Taiwan has been claiming the Senkakus as part of its territory since 1970. If war broke out between Japan and China over the little islands, which side would Taiwan fight on?

We need to think ahead of what kind of situations might happen

Like really making China angry at Japan by making a visit to Taiwan and discuss war.

Japan is stirring the pot and asking for trouble with China.

I bet China is furious at Japan now !

@Gaijinland

Your incorrect

China is and has been as before in line to becoming the world's largest economy along with India.

China already is a world power and expanding rapidly and that is exactly what a the fuss is about.

Politics is only a part of the picture when i comes to -as you say "world power"

Iam not Chinese or fond of China however iam not ignorant either !

USA and its allies are desperately and pathetically trying to slow down China .

Japan is just a pawn in the world order agenda.

Japan discusses regional defense in rare visit to Taiwan:

Hands off Taiwan.

What has Japan got to do with the island's defense?

Is there a need for Tokyo to declare its presence in Taipei?

Why remorselessly keep obeying the master's wild commands at own perish..?

Is this legal under Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution?

The defense of Taiwan from a Chinese invasion is a critical security issue for Japan, as well as many other countries. If Taiwan were to fall into China's hands they would cement their control over the east and south china seas. And be able to disrupt the oil shipments from the Persian Gulf to Japan and South Korea, effectively choking them into submission.

US allies do not "follow their master" an often repeated wumao chant. US allies are allies because of shared values and concerns, and most importantly because they want to be allied with the most powerful democracy on earth. Why? Because the autocracies, China and Russia pose a threat to their survival.

“We need to think ahead about what kind of situations could happen, what kind of laws and agreements we should prepare, and what kind of armaments we could use,” he said in prepared remarks at the Presidential Office. “We need to work together to reach consensus on this ahead of anything that could happen.”

Pure fantasy and hot air unless the Japanese government is planning to scrap the One China policy which is the bedrock of post 1972 China-Japan relations.

If Taiwan were to fall into China's hands they would cement their control over the east and south china seas. And be able to disrupt the oil shipments from the Persian Gulf to Japan and South Korea, effectively choking them into submission.

Pure fantasy and hot air. China is as trade dependent a nation as Japan. Why would a China which included the island of Taiwan want to threaten trade routes and invite hostilities with the US 7th Fleet?

It seems that warmongers want to help Japan take the place of the U.S. should a contingency ever occur in the Taiwan Strait and eventually in the Senkaku/Diaoyudao waters. These Japanese lawmakers – Shigeru Ishiba, Yasukazu Hamada, Akihisa Nagashima and Takayuki Shimizu -  seem to be looking in every nook and cranny for making Japan a deja vu monster once again.

The historical nexus in which we find ourselves is a significant one, as the Asian powers clearly recognize that this is their first real opportunity in five centuries to restore the power balance that had always previously favored Asia over Europe.

While Europeans in general, and white Americans in particular, erroneously tend to believe that their global primacy is inevitable and permanent, the people of Asia are very well aware that their civilizations are much older and they tend to correctly regard the last 500 years as a historical aberration. History did not end in 1991, and if it is to rhyme, as we are told it does, then it is probably about time for the pendulum to swing back toward the East.

The victory of the Japanese over the Russians in 1905 appears to have presaged the current crisis, even though the foolish decision by the Japanese military to directly challenge the growing US naval power in addition to the declining-but-still-formidable British Empire was 70 years too early.

China, being more circumspect and far less aggressive than most historical Asian powers – for example, Deng repeatedly refused to invade Cambodia to free it from either the murderous Khmer Rouge or the occupying Vietnamese, and did not approve the very limited invasion that eventually took place without massive pressure from Lew Kwan Yew and other Asian leaders who feared “the Prussians of East Asia” would continue their imperial offensive into other nations if China did not forcibly bring it to a halt – is not about to make the same mistake with regards the West.

David Saker sums this whole momentous moment up as follows:

All Asian powers in general feel that the world is going through a very important period of development, and the international system is going through a moment of transformation. This transformation is occurring in favor of the Asian powers in general, i.e., China first and foremost, and the main Asian states such as Russia, India, Iran and Turkey. These forces feel that they are witnessing a historical turning point in which they are regaining their civilizational weight and influence on the world which had been lost during the past 500 years.

These (Asian) states are still witnessing disparities, rivalries, and disagreements among them, the frameworks of cooperation between them are still developing and have not yet been crystalized, and part of these main (Asian) forces still have partnerships with the West and we know that. However, all of these states share a feeling that this world is becoming more pluralistic and balanced, and that they are facing a very great historical moment that they can seize to take away from the West a part of its domination and hegemony over them, whose (consequences) were at expense of them and their people.

Therefore, these forces are creating this form of partnership to try to seize this historical moment. This economic, demographic and political transition from West to East is considered by these states a historical opportunity that must be grasped. All of that was evident in the recent war with Ukraine. (For example,) India, despite its close relations with the United States, did not go into conflict with Russia as requested (by the US). Turkey kept its options open, even on the Ukrainian issue. Why? Because these states, as I told you, see that the Asian powers, that Asia, is back at the heart of the international system.

The marginalization of Asia was at the expense of the powers (in this continent) and its people. Therefore, this course is not new, and (its players) have taken advantage of the crisis of the West, the decline of American hegemony, and the rise of Asian powers; and this is still ongoing. As for speed of this path, its transformations may occur faster or may slow down depending on certain events. For example, we are waiting for the results of the war in Ukraine. We are waiting for the prospect of the US-Chinese confrontation, which I believe is the most important event from now until the year 2050. The next 20 or 30 years will determine the fate of the world through a confrontation that will escalate quickly between America and China. This competition and conflict and its consequences will shape the world for decades and centuries to come.

The United States announced in June or at the end of May, in a speech made by Blinken (, the US Secretary of State,), the American approach to confronting China. (Blinken) said four times in his speech “this decisive decade”, which is from 2020 to 2030. All American literature today uses the term: “the decisive decade”. (The US) says that it has the next 10 years (until the end of 2030) to resolve the conflict with China. If it can reverse the trajectories in this time period… In other words, if (the US) can transform the rise of China into a decline, and the decline of the United States into a rise, it has a chance of reclaiming or maintaining its leadership (over the world). However, if it does not succeed to accomplish its goal before 2030, and China continues to rise at the current level and pattern, and America is not able to regain the initiative, (the US) will reach the point of no return and China will become the strongest in the international system. Consequently, all American thinking (today) looks at the world, including the Middle East, with its conflicts and forces, from a Chinese perspective, at the first, second, third and fourth stage, before it gets into any other issues.

The most important thing to keep in mind here is that nothing the US leaders, military brass, and diplomats do or say is going to cause the other Asian countries to fear China as much as they fear the West. All of the anti-Chinese propaganda about Chinese totalitarianism, communism, and imperial ambitions absolutely pale besides 500 years of Western colonialism. It is the USA, not China, that used actual nuclear weapons on civilian population centers. It was the USA, not China, that carpet bombed and used chemical defoliants in South East Asia, it is the USA, not China, that presently occupies Japan and South Korea and stifles both the internal and foreign policies of those countries. It was the USA, not China, that maintained a massive military presence in the Philippines from 1898 to 1992.

National grievances last a long, long time. Remember, it took more than 500 years for the Spanish to reclaim their conquered lands from the Moors, but they succeeded in the end and went on to establish one of history’s more glittering empires.

If we are fortunate, globalism will soon lose its death-grip on the nations of the West even as it has lost its control over all of the unoccupied nations of the East. If we are even more fortunate, the nations of the East will learn from the mistakes of the Spanish, the British, and the Americans and eschew the temptations of Empire.

Nah.. China isn't planning an invasion its planning a massive flotilla of boats.

Some people just don't get it

Oh well

Go back to sleep

The USA will do as usual and capitalize on the conflict and pit as many as possible into it and try to come out on top pretending to be the great liberator of freedom and protection

Is this legal under article 9

Good question !

the NEXT world power

You are aware of some massive problems the CCP is facing, are you not?

Chief among them is the bankruptcy or imminent bankruptcy of the largest land development and housing companies in China. Millions of ordinary, middle-class (never mind the old “class struggle” which was already abandoned anyway) will lose their life savings put down on mortgages on now never-to-be-built houseing.

Add growing unrest over lockdowns and traditional CCP corruption and you may not find a population willing to swallow the old outside “threat” propaganda.

If China is a “super power” it’s only because they have nukes. It also helps the CCP to have a foil in the person of Joe “Is it ice cream time?” Biden.

Japan is stirring the pot and asking for trouble with China.

This is none of China's business.

I bet China is furious at Japan now !

Nobody gives a crap about how China feels. They are irrelevant.

Taiwan belongs only to the people of Taiwan. Time the CCP came to terms with that fact.

Did you forget the part where the Republic of China (Taiwan) claims all of the Mainland (and Mongolia)? I want to be generous but Japan Today's commentators are some of the most opinionated and least knowledgeable one can meet on the Internet.

Taiwan belongs only to the people of Taiwan. Time the CCP came to terms with that fact.

So, hang on a sec.... Japan visited Taiwan, which Japan's own Foreign Ministry recognizes as Chinese, to discuss things regional?

Seems alot of people haven't grasped that "recognizing the one-china policy" is not the same as "recognizing china's sovereignty over Taiwan". They are neither not one and the same nor mutually exclusive.

"When the United States moved to recognize the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and de-recognize the Republic of China (ROC) in 1979, the United States stated that the government of the People’s Republic of China was “the sole legal Government of China.” Sole, meaning the PRC was and is the only China, with no consideration of the ROC as a separate sovereign entity.

The United States did not, however, give in to Chinese demands that it recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan (which is the name preferred by the United States since it opted to de-recognize the ROC). Instead, Washington acknowledged the Chinese position that Taiwan was part of China."

https://www.csis.org/analysis/what-us-one-china-policy-and-why-does-it-matter

@Peter14

your wrong

Sorry but you don't get it !

Taiwan belongs only to Taiwan

Taiwan was stolen from the rightful owners that were refused to make claim to their ancestral lands.

The aboriginal Malay people

And besides - how many times you will ignore Taiwan isn't independent ?

Taiwan claims all of China

Taiwan isn't an official nation its an autonomous region of China !

At some point you just have to face the facts !

Carry on irritating China ..Taiwan and Japan are not doing the best for world peace

deanzaZZR

Thankyou for actually having done your research.

Welcome aboard

Good! Time to put Japanese troops on Taiwan.

Echo's of the 1930's.

@smith

Hang on a sec

Curious isn't it.

Is Japan playing a shell game to get out from under the USA thumb ?

As i said before i forsee a flip flop agenda by Japan

RodneyToday  11:39 am JST

Is this legal under Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution?

No, there is nothing in the Constitution anywhere that prohibits lawmakers from visiting another country for discussions.

Alan HarrisonToday  04:44 pm JST

Good! Time to put Japanese troops on Taiwan.

Echo's of the 1930's.

Jeezus you can't even bash Japan correctly. Since 1895.

John NounToday  04:37 pm JST

Carry on irritating China ..Taiwan and Japan are not doing the best for world peace

Chinese President Xi Jinping tells troops to focus on 'preparing for war'

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/14/asia/xi-jinping-taiwan-us-esper-intl-hnk/index.html

Anonymous

Take a look around you for 5 minutes and you will see what China made from Russian resources or what india made from both Russian and Chinese resources or products that Russia made.

Tobacco . Medicines .clothing ,electronics .packaging.. etc etc

It's truly ignorant to try and ignore that fact.

China has the largest quantum computer and micro chip resource and the largest collider.

Like it or not China is on the rise !

Trying to stop China by generating hate and war is just pathetic and ridiculous

This has been brewing for a long long time. This should be NO Surprise to anyone in the International Defense Analysis of any Country.

It is a simple solution: Tell China NO! And if they want to go to war.... Then go to War and Destroy the Communist Government. Yes, it will be bloody. It will be horrendous.

But Freedom and Human Rights will be protected.

Waiting will only make it harder in the future. "We" have watched and seen China grow its forces and its aggressive nature over many years. It is very clear what they intend to do and their intention to control the East China Sea and the South China Sea. They are bullies!!

Stop them NOW while it is not so hard.

Stop them NOW while it is not so hard.

War probably is not necessary. China's continued growth is very far from assured. They are very likely at their economic peak right now. The size of their working age population has declined every year since 2014. Their absolute population is tipping into decline right now. These will be long term declines as the total fertility rate (TFR) of China has also been falling every year for over a decade. Easing the One Child policy has done nothing to improve their TFR. Instead the decline accelerates. China faces a near term problem with a rapidly aging population and fewer workers to care for a greater number of elderly who can no longer work. This is an economic disaster in the making that will hollow out the Chinese economy. Something close to 25% of the Chinese GDP revolves around building homes for an expanding population. That goes away when the population starts to shrink and homes become surplus.

China faces big problems with their water supply as the glaciers feeding the Yellow and other major rivers disappear. Within a decade these glaciers are predicted to be gone. What happens when rivers like the Yellow River go dry? How do the people who rely on those rivers survive? Desertification has plagued northern and western China for a long time as aquifers are overdrawn. Meanwhile rising seas are going to displace people from China's biggest coastal cities.

In the not too distant future, 10 - 20 years from now, assuming the CCP in its current form can even hang on that long, China will not be so fearsome. It's population will have shrunk by a few hundred million by mid century and its economically vital coastal cities will be slowly inundated by rising seas. China won't have the economic power to back its threats with military power. In addition the CCP is probably the government least capable of dealing with the problems of population decline, water shortages and global warming displacing large populations.

The CCP are tone-deaf. Every time they try to control Taiwan, they show weakness and a 2-yr old mentality.

mine mine mine no no no

The next CCP leader can fix this. Xi needs to go, soon, for the safety in the region. Rolling back the crackdown in Hong Kong and Xinjiang and Tibet would go a long way towards peace.

If we are dreaming, abandoning the 'surface feature' bases and border war with India would be good too.

If we are completely dreaming, tweaking the CCP Chinese Constitution to make personal freedoms primary over the state would be excellent too. Dissent is critical to a functioning govt. Being able to show and discuss different opinions, in public, is key to becoming a great nation. Sure, it is messy, but life is messy.

Since Xi dominates Biden, Japan has to step up to the plate. It is time for South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand to fill the void caused by Bidens indecision and unassertiveness When it comes to China’s threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy

Since Xi dominates Biden

I love how people just gibly toss off these outright falsehoods as some sort of received wisdom. It's bs. The US has stepped up its challenges of China under the current administration.