Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion.
Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean.
The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Because of that increase in military activity, we cannot discount the possibility of heightened tensions,” Japan said for the first time in its annual Defense White Paper.
Repeated joint sorties by Chinese and Russian ships around Japan “are clearly intended as a demonstration of force against Japan and are a grave concern from the perspective of national security,” it said.
This year’s paper said that Beijing has regularly sent ships to areas near disputed islands in the East China Sea, reiterating that China’s military ambitions are “the greatest strategic challenge” to Japan and the world.
It seems China intends to make increased military activities around Taiwan a new normal for the region, said the paper, which also listed heightened defense risks associated with artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and disinformation.
“The international community is facing its greatest trial since World War II and competition among states, especially between the US and China, and it is set to intensify,” the paper said.
Japan worries that any conflict in Taiwan would spread to its territory.
With its westernmost island only 110km from Taiwan, Japan hosts more than 50,000 US troops, hundreds of US military aircraft and an aircraft carrier strike group that Washington could deploy to defend Taiwan.
Japan’s 548-page assessment also highlighted China’s plans to double its nuclear arsenal to more than 1,000 warheads by 2030.
It mentioned attempts by North Korea to boost its nuclear strike capability with surveillance satellites and new, more advanced missiles, some with sufficient range to strike the US.
Japan also identified Russia as a concern because of its military ties with China, and, more recently, with North Korea, which had begun supplying it with artillery shells and other ammunition for its forces fighting in Ukraine.
In previous years, the defense paper has raised the need to counter regional threats, including growing Chinese military clout and a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Beijing said it was “strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed” to the white paper’s statements.
“The latest version of Japan’s defense white paper seriously interferes in China’s internal affairs, plays the same old tune, hypes up the so-called Chinese threat and exaggerates regional tensions,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) said.
Also yesterday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has imposed sanctions on six US military hardware firms and several senior executives over arms sales to Taiwan.
The sanctions took effect yesterday and cover Anduril Industries, Maritime Tactical Systems, Pacific Rim Defense, AEVEX Aerospace, LKD Aerospace and Summit Technologies, the ministry added.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said that the Shandong’s recent far-sea combat training is a routine annual arrangement and does not have a specific target.
The navy is to hold similar exercises routinely to improve the compatibility of the carrier group, it added.
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