In a bid to secure itself in the current geo-political scenario and regional military tensions, Japan is expanding a military base on a tiny island east of Taiwan. This comes months after the Chinese military’s ballistic missiles landed near its shores last year. The island in question is Yonaguni, a remote outpost of Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture.
It is located 110 kilometres from Taiwan and is near the Diaoyu Islands, a group of islands claimed by Beijing but administered by Tokyo as the Senkakus.
In August, Yonaguni’s 1,700 residents were shocked when six Chinese missiles fell just off its shores, in waters Tokyo considers to be within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The weapons were part of air and sea exercises conducted by Chinese military units in response to a visit to Taiwan by then-speaker of the US House, Nancy Pelosi.
The island’s small town hall was inundated with inquiries about what to do and where to gather if the situation worsened. As a precaution, Yonaguni fishermen were instructed to remain in port.
China effectively ignored Japan’s subsequent protests, and earlier said there was no exclusive economic zone in the waters where the missiles landed because the two nations had not agreed on the limits.
Work is now under way on Yonaguni to expand a base for the Japan Self-Defence Forces and deploy a surface-to-air missile unit to the island. Given the presence of Japanese forces and the island’s proximity to Taiwan – making it strategically important – analysts have suggested that it would inevitably be attacked in the event of a regional conflict.
The prefecture is home to the bulk of US forces stationed in Japan and has large naval and air facilities that would be among the first to respond to a crisis across the Taiwan Strait.
In September, the local Yonaguni government set up a fund to cover the costs of emergency equipment and facilities for locals in the event of an attack. Many islanders took part in the first drill simulating a ballistic missile being fired at the island in November.
“We did not know that the Chinese missiles had come down close to the island in August and there were no warnings to local people, so people were not concerned at the time, but it was worrying when we heard about it later,” said Yuka Mori, who works at the town hall.
Mori also took part in the November emergency drills.
“There were sirens and we were instructed to hide under our desks and cover our heads as a missile was coming,” she said. “We had to answer calls from local people and answer their questions about what was happening.
“It was quite realistic and I found myself frightened,” she said. “Even though it only went on for a relatively short time – only 15 minutes or so – it made me imagine what could happen.”
In December, the local authority voted in favour of a proposal to ask the national government to provide emergency shelters. A group of council members are due to travel to Tokyo in February, where they hope to meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and deliver their request for help.
Tokyo’s metropolitan government is also looking into protection measures.
Tokyo conducted a study last summer into the feasibility of using the city’s subway system as a shelter from a nuclear attack. A total of 105 stations across the capital have been identified, but they are unlikely to provide adequate protection to all of the city’s 13.96 million residents.
Individuals across the country are also exploring the practicality of bomb shelters, with specialist firms that build fallout shelters and more substantial facilities able to withstand a nuclear blast reporting an uptick in both inquiries and purchases.
People have been frightened by events in Ukraine, in particular threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is ready to use nuclear weapons, said Takahiro Kawashima, an official of the Japan Nuclear Shelter Association.
There is also growing concern about North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes and Russian air and naval activity in the far north, as well as the threat posed by China.
“North Korea has already successfully tested nuclear warheads and last year fired dozens of missiles, including some that went over Japan,” he said. “Tensions between [mainland] China and Taiwan are also rising and it is clear that Japan’s three neighbouring nuclear powers are a long way from being liberal democracies.”
For years, Japanese people have ignored security threats facing the nation, Kawashima said.
“Because of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of the [second world] war, the topic of another atomic weapon being used against Japan has been taboo,” he said. But that is changing.
Before North Korea conducted its last underground nuclear test in 2017, the association received about one inquiry a week, Kawashima said. Immediately after the test, “the phone rang non-stop, from morning until night.”
Those calls gradually declined, he said, but they are increasing again and he estimates that he fields at least one inquiry every day.
Source:This Week In Asia
