Security between Japan and Taiwan

.

Senior Research Fellow / Advisory Committee at Taiwan Brain Trust Yu-Shih Liao

 
(1)Necessity for the future security cooperation between Japan and Taiwan for 2030
Recently, Japan has separately held joint exercises with many countries in the waters adjacent to Japan and Taiwan. The exercises include humanitarian relief and disaster relief, which should involve Taiwan's participation. In the future, if Taiwan can observe and understand the trends of its defense cooperation, and even join and exchange and share with them its rich experience in response to Chinese aggression, it should be able to form greater strength and consolidate the security of the first island chain.
 
The need for tripartite military cooperation between Japan, the United States and Taiwan is already obvious. He pointed out that considering the strategic importance of the first island chain and the increased possibility that China may launch a large-scale invasion of the Taiwan Strait, it is bound to form a close cooperative relationship between Japan, the United States and Taiwan to stop China's aggression.
 
In order to effectively contain China's increasingly bold three-war offensive, Japan and Taiwan should increase efforts to persuade the military power of the United States to move from a joint strategic dialogue to the establishment of a Japan-Taiwan-US security cooperation system as soon as possible. Japan, the United States, and Taiwan should promptly initiate international disaster relief activities and accident prevention measures, promote the evacuation of non-combatants, online cooperation, investigation and rescue, maritime safety (understanding maritime safety conditions, etc.), coordinate airspace management, and establish an information sharing system and maritime Plan and implement the air communication mechanism.
 
Especially the strategic dialogue between Japan and Taiwan must be held regularly and frequently, and a fixed model that can be followed must be established. Due to the current international situation, Japan-Taiwan exchanges must use gradual tactics, gradually deepen the content on the basis of consensus, and then elevate the level according to the situation, in order to achieve long-term benefits for both parties.
 
The important thing is to ‘start where possible' and ‘achieve results'. The substantial progress of cooperation is more important than the symbolic progress. It is not difficult for private think tanks, universities and other units to conduct joint research on strategic dialogues and ‘track 1.5 diplomacy'. When it comes to military-related cooperation, monitoring the daily activities of the Chinese navy and air force is also becoming more and more important. From this aspect, the military cooperation between Japan, the United States and Taiwan is more pragmatic.
 
 
(2)Taiwan's expectations
For the first time, Japan's new defense white paper clearly states that “the stability of Taiwan's situation is essential to Japan's security and the stability of the international community.” In addition, for the first time, Taiwan was removed from the Chinese chapter and put in the new “US-China Relations” chapter for independent introduction. It is the same as the Diplomatic Blue Book released by Japan in April last year.
 
China's military rise is obvious, and the balance of military power between China and the US has gradually developed in favor of China. The LDP has realized that if China invades Taiwan, Japan must mobilize the SDF to participate in support. At present, the government wants to start a careful review of the legislative definition of the “important state of affairs” and the “preserving crisis state of affairs” set by the security law for the situation in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan hopes to enter the stage of discussing legislation as soon as possible. In fact, the situation envisaged and the extent and manner of participation of the SDF have not yet been planned with much detail. It is hoped that Japan will start a simulation trial calculation for the participation of the SDF.
 
 
(3)Concerns about Japan-Taiwan relationship
Although Japan's one-China policy has not changed the premise, Japan also understands that Taiwan actually operates independently as a state and has no direct relationship with China's state operations.
 
It would be the best if Japan is able to create a Taiwan Relations Act, perhaps similar to that which the United States has with Taiwan. If it does that, then the Taiwan-U.S.-Japan triangular relationship will be strengthened. The U.S. has the TRA with Taiwan, and a 70-year formal alliance with Japan. But there is nothing linking Japan and Taiwan. As such, the Japan-Taiwan link, despite the long historical relationship, deep cultural ties, close economic relations, and shared values, is the weaker one.
 
At minimum, Taiwan and Japan should actively promote through congressional channels to promote Taiwanese congressmen to follow the United States' proposal and enact a Japanese version of the “Taiwan Travel Law” in order to expand and enhance the substantive exchanges and interactions between the two sides. If the two sides can use official missions, it will benefit the departments of the two countries. The exchanges between the two countries are smoother. On the other hand, it is also possible to raise the level of exchanges from Japan's support for Taiwan's negotiations to join the CPTPP, WHA and other international organizations in the future.
 
For Japan to conduct any diplomatic or defense exchanges with Taiwan, it is quite difficult for the government to come forward yet. This is the current political reality. But looking at it from another perspective, in the past, non-governmental scholars and experts have recently been upgraded to parliamentarians, and they have conducted 2-track to 1.5-track exchanges. In fact, they can discuss more extensively than official exchanges, and the depth of touch can be more freely grasped. I don't think it is necessary to stick to whether it is an official form, but frequent exchanges, and the important political issues discussed have to be gradually deepened, which will gradually produce substantial results.
 
Japan and Taiwan are at the northern end of the first island chain. Strengthening economic, industrial, and technological cooperation between the two sides is the key to economic security. In the US-China trade war, Japanese industries have been affected, and China has also begun to infiltrate its strategy in the economic field in recent years. Japan must carefully deal with the outflow of technology and data, as well as the transfer of high technology developed by Japan by the Chinese military. In this regard, Taiwan can provide a wealth of experience, and cooperation starting in the field of economic security is relatively reasonable and easy.
 
Japan's recent SNS interference and penetration by China has become more and more serious. We will hope to use Taiwan's experience to deal with the penetration problem in social media, and even make some improvements in information sharing and network security in the gray area. Taiwan has many ways to deal with cyber threats posed by China that Japan cannot think of, and other democracies should pay more attention to it. Cyber cooperation has a lower threshold than other military cooperation, which is a good starting point.
 
Japan, Taiwan, and the United States should recruit experts from the three places as soon as possible to form the JUST Program (Japan-U.S.-Taiwan Project) to jointly study plans to counter China's military, industrial, and cultural aggression.