[News] G7 summit: Taiwan looms large as Japan prepares to host leade

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At Japan's Naha airbase in Okinawa, the roar of F-15 fighter jets dwarfs the sound of commercial planes that share the same runway.

Three jets take off one after the other to start the day's training, mostly scenarios involving combat and aircraft interception - some have gone on "real life scrambles" or emergency calls to intercept suspected Chinese aircraft.

These routine exercises have taken on a new sense of urgency, according to Lt Col Masatoshi Tanaka.

"We're very nervous," he says. "We've been facing airspace violations of Japanese territory every day. Chinese activities have expanded in number and quality. They involve UAVs [drones], bombers and reconnaissance planes. There are many active aircraft carriers in this area."

Naha is part of the Okinawa island chain, which is on the frontline of any potential conflict between China and the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The territory, which Beijing claims and has vowed to take by force if necessary, has become one of the biggest flashpoints in the world, especially as tensions soar between the US and China.As China becomes more assertive, Taiwan's security has become a growing concern for Japan, which is hosting the G7 summit in Hiroshima this weekend. And with China expected to dominate the agenda at the summit, Japan's role as a key player in building regional stability has only grown.The war in Ukraine and an increasingly volatile Indo-Pacific has pushed Japan to a "crucial position in the alignment of powers," according to Yoko Iwama, a professor of international relations at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

"We are the linchpin of the network of American alliances and partnerships in the region and I think the Americans are aware of that," she said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has certainly been making moves to reflect that. In March, Japan normalised diplomatic ties with South Korea after years of terse silence in what has been hailed as a "new chapter".That same month, Mr Kishida met India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then made a surprise visit to Ukraine and pledged $30m (£24m) in non-lethal military aid.Under him, Japan has announced the biggest military build-up since World War Two, pledging to double defence spending by 2027 - which would give it the third largest defence budget in the world. This illustrates both Tokyo's urgent need to show that it can defend itself, and also help its closest ally, the US.Any defence scenario will involve the US, and Okinawa is home to the biggest concentration of US troops in Japan, but the country also needs to show that it can put up a fight. The hope is that this would be enough to deter Beijing and avoid a conflict in the region.But Japan is close enough to feel the ripples of a conflict that it does not want, but could be pulled into.

 

Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65619249