離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 US official visits Japanese islands to show support
US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, left, and Yonaguni Mayor Kenichi Itokazu talk in front of a monument indicating Japan’s westernmost point on Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Friday. Photo: AP
DISPUTED WATERS: A ‘robust deterrence’ ensures peace and security in the region, which guarantees economic prosperity, US ambassador Emanuel said
/ AP, TOKYO
US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Friday stressed the importance of increased deterrence and his country’s commitment to its key ally as he visited two southwestern Japanese islands at the forefront of Tokyo’s tensions with Beijing.
Emanuel first visited Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost island just east of Taiwan, before traveling to Ishigaki, home to Japan Coast Guard patrol boats defending the disputed East China Sea islands and Japanese fishers from armed China Coast Guard ships that routinely enter Japanese waters.
Japan has been making a southwest shift of its defense posture, and is further accelerating its military buildup under a 2022 security strategy that focuses on counterstrike capability with long-range cruise missiles.
Escorted by Yonaguni Mayor Kenichi Itokazu, Emanuel — the first US ambassador to visit the island — looked toward Taiwan, only 110km away. He met with Japan Self Defense Force service members at a local base installed in 2016 and where a missile defense system is planned.
The ambassador said the main purpose of his visit was to show US support for the local fishing community.
He also met with a local fisher who was among those affected by China’s increasingly assertive actions in the regional seas.
China fired five missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone in 2022 after then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
Emanuel said the fisher told him he could not sell his fish for about a week after the Chinese action.
“If they don’t have deterrence, that’s going to be worse,” Emanuel said from Ishigaki. “If you have a very robust deterrence, it ensures that there is peace, ensures that there is security, ensures economic prosperity. Without that, it’s more likely to be a green light to those that want to use economic coercion and confrontation as their only means of expression.”
Yonaguni fishers support the local economy and help reinforce Japanese territorial rights, he said.
“That’s what a real win looks like — economic security,” he wrote on X.
In Ishigaki, the Japan Coast Guard protects fishing boats in the disputed waters around the Japanese-controlled Diaoyutai Islands （釣魚台列嶼）, also known as the Senkaku Islands in Japanese, in the East China Sea. The islands are also claimed by Taiwan and China, the coast guard of which often faces off with their Japanese counterparts.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi welcomed the ambassador’s trip to the islands, saying it was “meaningful” for the ambassador to improve his understanding of Tokyo’s efforts in reinforcing its security in the southwestern region, where additional military units and missile defense systems are being deployed.
While local officials back the reinforcement of Japanese troops on the islands, local residents staged a small protest amid concerns they might be the first to be affected in a possible US-China conflict.
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki has said he supports the security alliance with the US, but has called for a reduction in the number of US troops on the island.
About half of the 50,000 US troops in Japan are based in Okinawa.
Tamaki also criticized the use of Yonaguni’s commercial airport by a US military aircraft used by the ambassador.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
