US Ally To Put More Missiles Near China’s Coast

Japan plans to deploy anti-air missiles on the front line of China-Taiwan tensions, Tokyo’s defense chief says.

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Japan Self-Defense Forces with emailed requests for comment.

Why It Matters

Type 03 Chu-SAM surface-to-air missiles are set to be deployed on Japan’s westernmost island of Yonaguni, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Taiwan. Yonaguni is part of Okinawa Prefecture and the first island chain, which stretches southward to the Philippines and which Washington considers key to hemming in Chinese forces in the event of a conflict.

China claims Taiwan as its territory, though the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled there, and Chinese threats toward the democratic island are a source of friction between Tokyo and Beijing.

What To Know

Japan will construct facilities to house the domestically developed Type 03 missiles, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told press Wednesday while visiting Yonaguni as part of a tour of the country’s outlying islands.

“Strengthening the defense system in the Nansei area is an urgent issue,” he said.

Nakatani also discussed the plan with Yonaguni mayor Kenichi Itokazu.

“I hope the government will address the issue firmly,” said Itokazu, who reportedly asked the defense chief for help building air raid shelters for the island’s 1,700 residents.

Operated from 8×8 trucks, the Type 03 missile system can target 12 incoming aircraft and missiles at once and hit targets up to 30 miles away.

Japan’s update follows the U.S. treaty ally’s announcement last month it is developing a new stealth missile specialized to take out enemy warships.

Japan scrambled fighters on January 22 when a drone flew between Yonaguni Island and Taiwan. The country’s Defense Ministry said the aircraft was believed to belong to the Chinese military.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called peace and security around Taiwan “an extremely important issue not only for Japan but also for the region.” Shortly before taking office in October, Ishiba, who has called for a NATO-like mutual security framework for Asia, warned Taiwan could be the next Ukraine.

What People Are Saying

Grant Newsham, retired U.S. Marine colonel and senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy think tank, said on the John Batchelor Show: “If China goes after Taiwan, it is going to have to cover its left flank […] The Japanese and the Americans are able to operate out of bases on Okinawa and the islands in that chain and reach out and hit the People’s Liberation Army. So to any Chinese planner, looking at Okinawa and the Japanese-owned islands it’s a huge, huge problem and you need to do something about it.”

Tom Shugart, former U.S. Navy submariner and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Newsweek: “I think for the most part that’s a point defense system to defend whatever Japan actually puts on Yonaguni. Now, does that matter for a Taiwan scenario? Maybe. If Japan is involved in helping to defend Taiwan, which it has said it might, then that system might be useful. Not so much for protecting any large-scale infrastructure on Yonaguni—because I don’t think there is any—but it might be useful for protecting offensive systems that could be used against China.”

What’s Next?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials have warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered his forces to be capable of moving against Taiwan in the next few years.

During his first week in office last week, Rubio hosted his counterparts from fellow Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) countries Japan, India, and Australia. In a joint statement, the group denounced “unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion.”