Tokyo has requested regions in southern Japan to accommodate people evacuated from Okinawa Prefecture in case of a war in the Taiwan Strait, Kyodo news agency reported on Monday.
If a conflict breaks out across the Strait, people on the Sakishima Islands, which lie between Taiwan proper and Okinawa’s main island, would have to be evacuated from the prefecture, the news agency reported.
An estimated 120,000 people would need to be moved, including 110,000 citizens and 10,000 tourists, it said.
Photo: Reuters
Niitani Koushi, who is in charge of crisis management at the Japanese Cabinet Secretariat, visited Yamaguchi Prefecture at the southern end of Japan’s main island of Honshu, it said.
Koushi asked the prefectural government to cooperate with prefectures in Kyushu, which is between Honshu and Okinawa, to help with the evacuation, it said.
Since last month, Tokyo officials have visited prefectures in Kyushu to call for their cooperation, including Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, who traveled to Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures, it said.
The Fukuoka Prefectural Government, in the most northern part of Kyushu, said that it had not received any such request and is not proceeding with preparations at this time, Kyodo reported.
Prefectural governments in Kyushu are to arrange available accommodation facilities, shelters and relief supplies as part of the preparations, it said.
To prevent evacuees from being stranded in airports or ports after they arrive in Kyushu and Yamaguchi, prefectures joining the evacuation effort need to create detailed plans on transportation and accommodation for evacuees, as well as food, clothing and medical supplies.
Tokyo plans to complete, by the end of this year, a survey on the number of people who would need to be evacuated in an emergency and aims to draw up an initial evacuation plan within the next year, local media reported.
Japan has also taken other measures to prepare for a Taiwan contingency, including holding an evacuation drill in Okinawa in March, the first such drill in the prefecture closest to Taiwan.
The Nikkei last month reported that Japan has chosen 33 airports and ports as candidates for improvement to enhance military capabilities, with a particular focus on infrastructure that could be utilized in a Taiwan emergency.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS