Japan will deploy surface-to-air missiles on a remote western island near Taiwan within the next five years, a move that may further strain ties with China.
The Japanese defence ministry said on Tuesday that it would deploy missiles capable of shooting down aircraft and ballistic missiles on the tiny Yonaguni island by March 2031.
This is the first time that Japan has specified the timing of the deployment, first announced in 2022.
Defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the deployment on Yonaguni, already a Japanese military base, would depend “on the progress of preparing facilities, but we are planning for fiscal 2030”.
Mr Koizumi said his ministry was holding a briefing for about 1,500 residents of the island, located 110km east of Taiwan, next week.
In 2015, the residents voted 632 to 445 in favour of hosting a military base. Nearly 160 personnel now monitor Chinese naval movements round the clock from radar sites perched atop a mountain peak.
The island regularly hosts joint military exercises between Japan and the US and plans are in motion to establish a new missile unit and expand the existing airport and port.
The announcement comes amid a months-long diplomatic standoff with China over prime minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan’s security.
Relations between Japan and China sank to the worst level in years after Ms Takaichi, just a month after taking office last year, claimed that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese military response. Beijing responded with export curbs, flight cancellations and vitriolic commentaries, repeatedly demanding a retraction.
China considers Taiwan a part of its territory and doesn’t rule out the use of force to reunify it with the mainland. Beijing objects to the involvement of third countries in Taiwan, notably the US, which is the main supplier of weapons to the island.
Beijing’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, told the Munich Security Conference earlier this month that forces in Japan were seeking to “revive militarism”.
Ms Takaichi told the Japanese parliament on Friday that China was stepping up efforts to change the status quo “by force or coercion” in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and said Tokyo must strengthen its defence capabilities.
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