Japan’s defense minister, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post were on track as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing over the East Asian island.
"The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. "The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.”
Japan is planning to station medium-range surface-to-air missiles on Yonaguni, about 110 kilometers east of Taiwan, as part of a broader military build-up on its southern island chain. The moves reflect Tokyo’s concerns about China’s growing military power and the potential for a clash over Taiwan.
Those fears have been amplified by a dispute over recent comments by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi related to the self-ruling territory, which Beijing regards as a province that must be brought under its control, by force if necessary. Takaichi on Nov. 7 raised the theoretical possibility that Japan could deploy its military with other nations if China attacked Taiwan, drawing an angry response and economic retaliation from Beijing.
She has since reverted to the government’s longstanding policy of not discussing particular scenarios that might involve Tokyo’s military, but Beijing continues to demand a retraction. On Saturday, a Japanese official rejected China’s claims that Takaichi has altered Japan’s position on a Taiwan crisis as "entirely baseless.”
When asked about the potential impact on Yonaguni of a Taiwan crisis, Koizumi said he wouldn’t comment on hypothetical scenarios.
Before arriving in Yonaguni, Koizumi visited bases on the islands of Ishigaki and Miyako. The Ishigaki base is equipped with anti-ship missiles, while Miyako is a hub for air surveillance and other military facilities, including ammunition storage. Japan and the U.S. also have major bases on the larger island of Okinawa further to the east.
A popular tourist retreat including for scuba divers, Yonaguni is also home to a surveillance radar facility that scans nearby seas and airspace, as well as an electronic warfare unit introduced in 2024 that could be used to jam enemy communications and guidance systems.
In recent weeks, the U.S. military held a training exercise to bring supplies from Okinawa to Yonaguni to simulate the creation of a forward-operating base that might be needed in any regional crisis.
When China responded to a visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2022 by launching major military drills around the island, ballistic missiles landed just south of Yonaguni, providing a stark illustration of the proximity of the island to any conflict for control of Taiwan.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/11/23/japan/japan-deploying-missiles-to-island-near-taiwan/
by No_Location_3339
26 comments
WHY?!
Don’t. Make. Things. Worse.
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I don’t understand. Why did Japan feel the need to stand up for Taiwan?
Hopefully some nuclear armed ones in a near future.
While nobody itches to find out, if US decides to get involved kinetically, Okinawa base will likely be used more than just intelligence radar etc., and a winning Chinese side may not allow Okinawa to stay in Japanese hand afterwards, so Japan may as well go all in on get go.
Obviously the flip side is a winning Chinese side after that scenario (that Japan attack PLAN without being attacked first) may not be satisfied with just Ryukyu islands.
They’ve certainly been practicing with their artillery since the PM made those comments. I can always tell if China/NKorea is mad because the defense force is up in the mountains practicing and it shakes my house.
Great. All they need now is 1 billion soldiers and a trillion rounds of artillery.
Playing with fire here.
Not sure I understand your point. It’s the US that can stand up to them/needs to keep them independent the most and therefore no other country should care or do anything?
biggest problem of Japan self defense forces is the lack of recruitment . The japanese navy has to shrink down the size of its new ships as they cannot find any sailor. Japan should better develop economic ties with China , there are much more upsides
Is this escalation really necessary over what has just been word exchanges so far? What justifies this move?
good, standing up to china is much more important than domestic peasants problem
—the man vowed to bring the rice price down couple month ago, koizumi
By the way, good job on the rice price.
edit, getting upvoted here is not what I expected
You do know I am mocking him saying whatever gets his approve rating up. Then eventually incapable to achieve whatever he promised. But get to move on with “success” because of the approve rating
I gotta be better at my sarcastic game
This fiasco has been a good wake up call to the world regarding the Japanese threat.
Japa/US alliance need to deter China from invading Taiwan. China will eye Japan and the Philippines right after annexing Taiwan, just like what Nazi Germany did after annexing Poland.
The CCP will pretend that this is a result of Japan wanting to attack China, and it has nothing to do with the CCP’s military buildup and incursions. But Japan needs to defend itself from aggressors like China, who will try and twist every single fact in their favor, from using grievances from WW2, to dubious territorial claims. The equivalent will of course, conveniently, not apply to them.
It is clear that China will keep this up, and the only question is if/when it will act. Being unprepared for the event is a self defeating attitude, Japan has no choice. China’s attitude is clear: Might makes right. They do not care, they are a big country and therefore have the right to bully the smaller ones. The only thing holding it back is that a bunch of other countries have a vested interest in the region.
God the wumaos really came out in force on this one
Good! China are a bully look at what thy did in the nine dash line with south asia.
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Japan finally done lost it and drank the MAGA coolaid
The plans to deploy anti-ship and anti-air missile systems on the islands of the Ryukyu Islands have existed at least since 2019, and Japan is merely proceeding with the deployments as originally scheduled. They have absolutely nothing to do with the recent Japan–China tensions surrounding Takaichi’s remarks.
I can hear all the wumaos frantically typing their predictable responses in here
Lets play a game called spot the ccp bot
You are very mistaken. I am not Chinese, nor am I on China’s side. China doesn’t need to use military force to control Taiwan, South Korea, or Japan and turn them into puppets. The basis is population. Every country is facing a demographic crisis, but South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan are especially vulnerable. If China spends the next few decades strengthening its power while encouraging immigration and tourism, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan will fall into China’s grasp. I don’t think China will attack Taiwan; rather, I think Japan is more likely to use this as an excuse to pursue “nuclear armament.
The only way to stop China is having 500 nukes in hand, preferably loaded in submarines.
Little bit off the topic, but this guy is everywhere, isn’t he? One day, he was a minister of environment, and then the next day, he was a minister of agriculture. Now, he is a minister of defense?
Number of times China have invaded Japan in its entire hiatory: 0
Number of times Japan invaded China:3(not counting the Ming Dynasty Wokou inclusion)
Number of times China have committed massacres/genocide in Japan: 0
Number of times Japan have conducted massacres on Chinese: 8(not counting the smaller ones where they razed entire villages)
Number of times modern China has invaded overseas nation: 0
Number of times Japanese overlord US have invaded nations overseas: at least 80 countries
Number of times China have nuked Japan: 0
Number of times Japanese overlord US have nuked Japan: 2
Number of times China have financially crashed Japan: 0
Number of times Japanese overlords US have crashed the Japanese economy: Once and it caused them to stagnate for 30 years
Meanwhile China is a real threat to Japanese national security. No matter how I see it, China isn’t a threat to Japan and Japanese biggest threat seems to be Murica
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