The US and Japan are waging war games between tensions in China and Taiwan

The U.S. and Japan have been waging war games and military exercises with China in the wake of the Taiwan conflict, amid growing concerns about the assertive activity of the Chinese military.

U.S. and Japanese military officials began planning a potential conflict in the last year of the Trump administration, according to six people who requested anonymity. The activity includes top-secret table war games and joint exercises in the South China and East China Seas.

Shinzo Abe, then Prime Minister of Japan, decided in 2019 to significantly expand military planning due to the threat to Taiwan and Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. This work has continued under the administration of Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The U.S. and Japan have been alarmed by the fact that China has carried more fighter jets and bombers to Taiwan’s air defense identification area, including a record number of fighters on June 15. The Chinese navy, air force and coast guard are also becoming more active around Senkaku. It is administered by Japan, but claimed by China and Taiwan.

China has stressed that it wants to unite with mainland Taiwan. Although he says he wants peaceful unification, he has not ruled out using force to gain control of Taiwan.

“In many ways, the People’s Liberation Army pushed the U.S. and Japan together for new thoughts in Taiwan,” said Randy Schriver, who served as chief officer of the Asian Pentagon until the end of 2019. “Assertiveness pushes the issue of proximity to Senkaku and Taiwan around the same time at home.”

The US has long wanted Japan, an ally of the self-defense pact, to pursue more unified military planning, but Japan was limited by post-war pacifist constitutions. This obstacle was alleviated, but not removed, when the Abe government reinterpreted the constitution in 2015, allowing Japan to defend its allies who had been attacked.

When the two allies began to strengthen the joint plan, Japan asked the US to share the Taiwan war plan, but the Pentagon did not back down because it wanted to focus on the planning phase between the two countries. A former U.S. official said the ultimate goal was for the two allies to create an integrated war plan for Taiwan.

Two of the six people said the U.S. military and Japanese self-defense forces had conducted joint exercises prepared as a disaster training tool in the South China Sea. They have also carried out more military exercises around Senkaku, which also helps them get ready to have conflicts with China over Taiwan, which is 350 kilometers west of the islands.

“Some of the activities we are preparing are very impactful,” Schriver said, adding that exercises such as an amphibious landing on the “disaster scene” would be “directly applicable” around Senkaku or the Taiwan Strait.

Mark Montgomery, a retired admiral who led the George Washington aircraft carrier strike group and director of operations at the Indo-Pacific command between 2014 and 2017, said the Pentagon needed a “comprehensive understanding” of the assistance it could provide in Japan. a conflict.

“As the crisis grows and is attracting Japan as a partner, the U.S. will need to understand how it can accept or allow U.S. operations in Japan,” he added.

U.S. and Japanese diplomats are examining legal issues related to joint military actions, including access to bases and logistical support that Japan can provide to U.S. forces in conflict with China.

In the case of the war against Taiwan, the US would rely on Japanese air bases. But that increases the likelihood that Tokyo would lead to conflict, especially if China tries to destroy the bases in an effort to thwart the U.S..

An official said the US and Japan urgently need to create a trilateral sharing mechanism with Taiwan to receive information on naval and air force movements, especially around the Miyako Strait in eastern Taiwan, which is covered by northeastern and Taiwanese Japanese sensors. southwest sensors.

“Some such data is shared between Taiwan and the US and between Japan and the US. But we don’t have direct participation on both sides, ”the official said.“ You can’t set that up in the middle of a contingency. You have to do it now. “

Another official said the three nations had taken a small but important step in 2017 in agreeing to share military aircraft codes to help identify friendly aircraft.

Taiwanese officials and U.S. and Japanese sources said the cooperation has grown significantly as Japan becomes increasingly aware of the importance of Taiwan (i.e., Yonaguni, 110 km from the western island of the Japanese archipelago) for its safety.

“The Japanese government has increasingly recognized, and even more publicly acknowledged, that Taiwan’s defense is equated with Japan’s defense,” said Heino Klinck, a former Pentagon senior official who oversaw military relations with Japan and Taiwan from late 2019. Trump administration.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said Tokyo and Washington have continued to update the joint plan in 2015 after revising the guidelines based on the military alliance, but declined to provide details. The Pentagon did not comment.

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Additional report by Robin Harding in Tokyo