Japan to join forces with U.S., if China attacks Taiwan

Seoul News.Net
Thursday 4th January, 2007

Japan and the United States are considering a plan to coordinate the actions of their armed forces in the event China invades Taiwan.

Under the plan, Japan would focus on rear-area support for U.S. forces, Japanese and U.S. government sources were quoted by the Kyodo newsagency as saying Wednesday.

Defense and diplomatic officials from Tokyo and Washington will begin studying various scenarios for the Taiwan Strait, in a reflection of U.S. concern over China's growing military might, the sources said.

But while U.S. officials and the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo are considering a plan focused only on an outbreak of hostilities between China and Taiwan, the Japanese Defense Agency hopes to draw up a comprehensive plan that would include military action on Japanese or Japanese controlled territory, including Okinawa and the disputed Senkaku Islands.

The move, says Kyodo, is expected to draw criticism from China, which views military planning involving Taiwan as interference in its internal affairs. Beijing considers the self-governing island a renegade province.

The joint plan is also likely to be contentious in Japan. The Kyodo report on the possible Japan-U.S. pact appeared on the front page of Thursday's The Japan Times. Tokyo has remained vague over whether Taiwan is located in an 'area surrounding Japan,' in which military action might be deemed lawful under the country's pacifist Constitution.

The plan aims to flesh out the 'common strategic objectives' drawn up by Tokyo and Washington in a joint statement in February 2005, in which the two sides agreed to 'encourage the peaceful resolution' of the Taiwan issue while maintaining the 'capability to address (crisis) contingencies affecting the United States and Japan.'

The scenarios to be studied include a declaration of independence by Taiwan or a move by China to take the island by force, according to the government sources.

In addition to the rear-area support covered under the Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation, the two sides are considering having Japanese forces conduct rear-area search and rescue operations of U.S. personnel, ship inspections and evacuation of Japanese living in affected areas overseas in the event of an emergency, according to the sources.

Under the guidelines, Japan, while acting within its constitutional limits and in accordance with its exclusively defense-oriented policy, is required to assist U.S. forces with logistic support, including supplies, transportation, maintenance and medical care.

Tokyo and Washington agreed in October to discuss military cooperation in the event of a confrontation involving Taiwan. Japan's decision to go ahead with the study highlights the pro-Taiwan stance of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, sources told the Kyodo agency.

This contrasts with the position taken by Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, who told the Diet in March 2005 that Japan did not anticipate providing military assistance to the United States in any dispute between China and Taiwan.

The United States is obliged to provide Taipei with 'arms of a defensive character' under the Taiwan Relations Act. The law also calls for 'appropriate action' by Washington in response to any threat or danger to the island's security, and Washington has long sought Japan's assistance in helping it defend Taiwan, should it become necessary.

Tokyo, which recognizes Beijing as the 'sole legal government of China' under its one-China policy as stated in the 1972 Japan-China joint communique, has thus far not stated whether Taiwan falls within the scope of legislation authorizing the use of military force in areas near Japan.

The two allies have maintained this strategic ambiguity. The Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines merely state that the definition of a 'contingency' near Japan that affects its peace and security 'is not geographic but situational.'

Japan and the United States, says the Kyodo report, are also drawing up plans behind closed doors for cooperation between the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military in the event of an emergency on the Korean Peninsula.

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