Japan to deploy missiles to island near Taiwan, minister says

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(Bloomberg) — Japan's defense minister, visiting a military base near Taiwan, said plans to station missiles at the site were moving forward as tensions simmer between Tokyo and Beijing over the East Asian island.

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“The deployment can help reduce the likelihood of an armed attack on our country,” Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on Japan's southern island of Yonaguni. “The idea that this will increase regional tensions is incorrect.”

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Japan plans to station intermediate-range surface-to-air missiles on Yonaguni, about 110 km (68 miles) east of Taiwan, as part of a broader military buildup 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 concerns have been heightened by controversy over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's recent comments regarding the self-governing territory, which Beijing views as a province that should be brought under its control, by force if necessary. Takaichi on November 7 raised the theoretical possibility that Japan could deploy its military along with other countries if China attacks Taiwan, prompting an angry reaction and economic retaliation from Beijing.

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She has since returned to a long-standing government policy of not discussing specific scenarios that could involve Tokyo's military, but Beijing continues to demand a retraction. On Saturday, a Japanese official rejected Chinese claims that Takaichi had changed Japan's position on the Taiwan crisis, calling them “completely baseless.”

Asked about the potential impact of the Taiwan crisis on Yonaguni, Koizumi said he would not comment on hypothetical scenarios.

Before arriving in Yonaguni, Koizumi visited the bases on Ishigaki and Miyako Islands. The Ishigaki base is equipped with anti-ship missiles, and Miyako is an air surveillance center and other military installations, including ammunition depots. Japan and the United States also maintain major bases on the larger island of Okinawa, further east.

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Yonaguni, a popular tourist resort, including among divers, is also home to a surveillance radar station that scans nearby seas and airspace, as well as an electronic warfare unit introduced in 2024 that can be used to jam enemy communications and targeting systems.

In recent weeks, the U.S. military has conducted exercises to transport supplies from Okinawa to Yonaguni to simulate the creation of a forward operating base that might be needed in the event of any regional crisis.

When China responded to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in 2022 by launching major military exercises around the island, ballistic missiles landed south of Yonaguni, a stark illustration of the island's proximity to any conflict for control of Taiwan.

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At a meeting with the mayor of Yonaguni, Koizumi said Japan needed to build up its deterrence by increasing its own capabilities and deepening ties with the US military.

“Japan today faces its most severe and challenging security situation since the end of World War II,” Koizumi said. “To protect the peaceful life of the Japanese people, including all residents of Yonaguni, we must strengthen the capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces.”

Yonaguni is the end point of the Ryukyu Island chain, which extends several hundred miles from the Japanese mainland. As tensions with China have increased in recent days, Chinese state media have published articles questioning Japan's sovereignty over the islands and emphasizing that the Ryukyu Kingdom was independent from Japan several hundred years ago.

Few residents of the Ryukyu Islands, also known as Okinawa Prefecture, seek independence, but they fear being drawn into a regional conflict if military installations on the islands come under attack.

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