Japan pledges to defend Taiwan if China attacks

A shift in policy, in which Japan said it would join US to protect Taiwan, draws swift response from enraged China.

Britain is concerned about Chinese expansionism and the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth passed through the Suez Canal on Tuesday on its way to “project influence” in the region. Picture: Royal Navy

Japan has said it would join America in defending Taiwan against a Chinese invasion, treating any such attack as an “existential threat” that could lead to an assault on its own territory.

The statement by Taro Aso, the deputy prime minister, signals a shift in policy towards Beijing. “If a major problem occurred in Taiwan, it would not be going too far to say that it could be an existential threat [for Japan],” he said.

“In such a case, Japan and the United States will have to work together to defend Taiwan.” He added: “We need to consider seriously that [the southern islands of] Okinawa could be next.”

There was a swift and angry response from Beijing, which considers Taiwan its territory. Last week President Xi promised to complete “reunification” of the island.

Zhao Lijian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, denounced Aso’s remarks as “extremely wrong and dangerous” and said that a diplomatic protest had been made. He said that Japan had not learnt the lessons of history and its “countless crimes of aggression against China”.

China’s grim warning

Zhao added: “China is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed to such remarks. Today’s China is not the China of the past. We will never allow any country to meddle with Taiwan affairs in any way. No one should underestimate the strong determination, firm will and powerful ability of the Chinese people to defend national sovereignty.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. Picture: Greg Baker/AFP

After decades in which it avoided confronting Beijing, Japan’s conservative government is meeting Chinese assertiveness with an increasing outspokenness, and pushing the limits of the post-Second World War pacifist constitution. Aso is the latest leader to express concern about Chinese intentions in Taiwan and a determination to stand up to any attempt to “reunify” the island by force. Taiwan is a prosperous democracy and has been self-governing since Chinese nationalist forces fled there after their defeat by the communists in 1949.

The prospect of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, defended by US forces, has long been regarded as the potential trigger for a superpower conflict.

Security pact

The US has a security pact with Taiwan but does not recognise it diplomatically. The pact does not guarantee that the US would come to Taiwan’s defence if attacked but it is widely assumed it would do so. Britain is concerned about Chinese expansionism and the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth passed through the Suez Canal on Tuesday on its way to “project influence” in the region.

Most foreign governments, including Japan, acknowledge that Taiwan is a sovereign part of China – the “one China” policy. Western governments, however, insist that reunification must take place without force, something that Beijing refuses to rule out.

In a speech last week marking the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi said: “We must take resolute action to utterly defeat any attempt towards ‘Taiwan independence’ and work together to create a bright future for national rejuvenation.”

In the past, powerful politicians in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party supported engagement with China. In recent years, however, this faction has been eclipsed by hawkish conservatives indignant about Beijing’s claim to the remote Senkaku islands, which are administered by Japan.

Every year Chinese coastguard vessels and military planes fly close to the Senkakus, called the Diaoyu by Beijing. For several years Japan has been redeploying its military forces to the Okinawa islands to face the Chinese threat.

In March the US and Japanese defence ministers agreed in Tokyo to “closely co-operate” in case of conflict over Taiwan, the first time that such an agreement had been publicly made at that level. Last month Yasuhide Nakayama, Japan’s deputy defence minister, questioned the “one China” policy and insisted that Japan and America must “protect” Taiwan.

The postwar constitution imposed on Japan by America bars the country from going to war. The so-called self-defence forces are a formidable military but their official role is to defend Japan’s islands. Aso’s use of the term “existential threat” is a reference to legal changes in 2015, which allow a response to an armed attack on another country if it represents a threat to Japan.

The Times