Japan has released its first plan to evacuate more than 100,000 civilians from remote islands near Taiwan in the event of a conflict in the region amid escalating tensions between Beijing and Taipei.
In an emergency, ships and planes will be mobilized to take around 110,000 residents and 10,000 tourists from five islands of the cherry blossom chain southwest of Japan.
According to the Kyodo News Agency, evacuees will be taken to eight Japanese prefectures in the southwest and west within six days. Evacuees are transported by private ferries or by air to Kyushu, one of Japan's four major islands, before being sent to accommodation at other destinations.
Tokyo said it plans to conduct evacuation drills in the Sashima Islands, part of Okinawa Prefecture, starting April next year.
Beijing's claims of the outlook for Taiwan's invasion of China, an autonomous island, is China's territory and should be “integrated,” and therefore it was forced to force Japan to take measures to protect remote islands that could become involved in strait conflicts.
China has in recent years strengthened military pressure on Taiwan and has not used force to exclude the autonomous island under its control.
The Japanese government will also deploy surface-to-air guide missile units at Yonagni, located 100km from Taiwan. Japanese media reports that the island, the host of Japan's self-defense force base, has been building a temporary underground shelter with ample food and water storage for two weeks.
Defense Minister Shonen Nakata said in January that he felt a “strong sense of crisis” among residents living on Japan's remote border islands. According to Yomiuri Shinbun Newspaper, he said.
Taiwan was not specifically named in the plan, but concerns that island democracy could become a military flashpoint since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the revival of Donald Trump's “America First” foreign policy in 2022.
Evacuation plans have been widely reported in Taiwan, and most stores have linked them to cross-sectional threats and changes in US relations. “It feels more and more like war,” one reader commented in a local news report.
“The Japanese also know that Trump won't protect Taiwan,” another said. “Even if they provide weapons to Taiwan, they may not win. They are already thinking of ways to retreat to avoid burns. But did our government think of ways to protect the people?”
Earlier this month, Japanese media reported that the government is planning to deploy long-range missiles in Kyushu amid concerns over the Trump administration's stance on the country's postwar security agreement.
Trump complained that Japan and the US security treaties were not mentioned in early March.
“That's how we read transactions…and by the way, they build their fortunes financially with us. I actually ask who's doing these transactions.”
Japan's top minister, Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, said the evacuation plan was “made based on assumptions.” [Japan will encounter] “An armed attack is expected,” Kyoda said.
Okinawa, home to approximately 50,000 US troops, was able to play an important military role in the event of a Taiwanese emergency. Japan is also caught up in a conflict with China over Seracas, a chain of deserted islands in the East China Sea, managed by Tokyo but claimed by China.
