After Japan’s current Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga gave up his bid for re-election as president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, Fumio Kishida became one of the most vocal candidates to succeed him and is the most popular candidate to be the next prime minister of Japan. Fumio Kishida, 64, served as Japan’s Japanese foreign minister from 2012 to 2017.
According to Chinese media reports, Kishida said in a recent interview that China and Russia are at the forefront of “authoritarianism” and that democracies such as the United States, Japan, India, Australia and Western European countries need to stand up to it. Taiwan is in the front line of democracy against authoritarianism, Japan needs to continue to update its precautionary measures for conflicts in the Taiwan Strait, but Japan cannot cope with it alone, unless we cooperate with our ally, the United States, we have no way to respond, so Japan and the United States need to start a joint war game rehearsal for a possible crisis in the Taiwan Strait.
Kishida said Japan cannot be the first to attack a potential enemy, but needs to be prepared for a situation where it is the first to be attacked and meet more missile attacks, “If we stand by and do nothing when Japan is attacked, can we protect lives? Don’t we need to have the ability to block a missile attack from the other side? This is the question I would like to raise.”
In particular, Fumio Kishida expressed concern about China’s development of hypersonic missiles such as the DF-17, saying that “the technology of the other side (referring to China) is improving every day” and that updating Japan’s defense is a very important political issue.
From Fumio Kishida’s statement, it can be seen that he is tougher on security issues than Suga Yoshihide.
Fumio Kishida also said he was “deeply alarmed” by China’s diplomatic and economic assertiveness, and that if he came to power, he would make dealing with China a top priority, and that Japan would need to consider building missile attack capabilities against potential enemies such as China and North Korea.
Fumio Kishida also claimed that “Taiwan will become the next huge issue and will consider the distance with China in a realistic way.”
The Ministry of Defense of Japan has confirmed that it will deploy longer-range missiles on Ishigaki Island, the southernmost tip of the Ryukyu Islands, before the end of the 2022 fiscal year. This is likely to be the first wave of Japan’s intervention in the Taiwan Strait situation.