Japan has been stepping up military deployments in the west of the country and on islands off its southwest coast due to the increased military threats from China, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research said in a report published on Wednesday last week.
The report, titled The Indo-Pacific Regional Security Situation Assessment Report in 2024, discussed the results of the elections in the Indo-Pacific region last year and how they could affect the region.
One of the chapters in the report, written by the institute’s assistant research fellow Wang Tsuen-yen (王尊彥), analyzes Japan’s “perimeter defense policy” and its approach to public opinion in the northeast Asian nation.
Photo: CNA
“Japan has clearly indicated in both its National Security Strategy and Defense White Paper that its security environment is rapidly deteriorating, with the largest threat coming from China,” Wang wrote.
Wang listed Japan’s military deployment on the islands off its southwest coast from October 2023 to September last year. Tokyo has added a 40-person electronic warfare squad on Yonaguni island and expanded its military base on the island to accommodate a soon-to-be-deployed air defense force.
A surface-to-ship missile unit was also installed on Okinawa Island, as well as an alarm radar to monitor the ships passing through the Miyako Strait, he said.
Japan’s National Defense Strategy said that its long-distance defense capabilities must be “fundamentally bolstered,” he said.
Japan obtained land-based “enhanced Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles” and Tomahawk missiles a year ago and test-fired “high-speed missiles for island defense” to attack enemy ships invading Japan’s outlying islands, he said.
Tokyo’s defense budget plan has allocated funds to build a medium-size transport ship, a small transport ship and motorboats, he said.
The funding would also cover expenses to rent eight ships from the private sector, he said.
Japan has also built 130 ammunition depots and designated 28 airports and seaports to be ready to accommodate military facilities, with most of them being in the west of the country, Wang said.
The Japanese government last year published a new guidebook to build shelters and organize drills, he said.
The Japan Coast Guard has allocated a budget to build a 30,000-tonne patrol ship in case a mass evacuation of people is necessary, Wang said.
A survey conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April last year showed that 58.4 percent of Japanese think Tokyo should respond forcefully to foreign ships intruding in the country’s territorial waters, while 41.4 percent said that the Japanese government should ensure peace and stability of the region and international community, Wang said.
Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun also published results of an opinion poll in April last year, showing that 53 percent of the respondents agreed that Japan’s defense budget should be increased, Wang said.
In related news, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it is using various strategies to prevent voluntary military recruits from quitting.
The number of voluntarily enlisted personnel dropped to 150,000 as of June last year from 160,000 in 2021, the lowest since 2018.
The ministry attributed the decline to the country’s low birthrate and corporate job offers.
The ministry said it is working on increasing incentives for military personnel to remain in post, such as by ensuring better treatment, adjusting enlistment requirements and raising salaries.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS