Tokyo, Japan – The Japanese government has embarked on a growing conflict in the Taiwan Straits.
Last Friday, Japan sent to Taiwan Rates 1.24 million of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 jab, after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen criticized China for blocking the availability of vaccines in the region during the outbreak.
Beijing sees Taiwan – an independent island located 161km (100 miles) off the coast of China – as part of it and has not stopped using force to achieve its goal. It has been tense since Tsai was first elected in 2016, stating that he wants the independence of 23.6 million people on the island, and tensions have escalated as cultural allies, including the United States, have vowed to support Taiwan.
Japan has been relatively calm for many years.
But because of China’s economic and military power that continues to oppose Japanese rule on the Senkaku Islands, which the Chinese are known as the Diaoyutai Islands, the Tokyo government is changing.
“Japanese freedom fighters have taken over the Taiwan issue as a way to connect with the Chinese,” said Daniel Sneider, a lecturer in East Asia Study at Stanford University.
The rise of China worries many people in Japan.
In recent years, Beijing has become a hero in the Asia Pacific region, demonstrating its military prowess in the East China Sea and the South China Sea to regain its maritime views and its role in rival seas.
Taiwan, also known as the South China Sea, is also present I felt the heat from Beijing.
Last year, Chinese troops sent military planes to the island daily, with 25 Chinese warplanes flying on April 12.
‘Taiwan’s interest and security’
In an effort to address China’s growing problems, Japan is developing a security relationship with countries such as Australia and India, and strengthening its alliance with the United States, which also sees Beijing as a competitive advantage.
When US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met in Washington, DC, in April, China led the talks. And for the first time in more than half a year, the words connecting with those leaders included the mention of “The need for peace and stability on the Taiwan road”.
In addition, after Japan’s Ministry of Defense released the annual “white paper” last month, it mentioned Taiwan for the first time.
“The stability around Taiwan is critical to Japan’s security and international stability,” the statement said.
Beijing has criticized the Japan-US concept in Taiwan as a threat to its internal affairs, and criticized the two countries for “forming factions that cause conflict”. Chinese officials have also expressed concern over the military and economic crisis as part of a “Cold War” campaign.
In this case, Japan, a former colony of Taiwan, jumped on the island in search of a coronavirus vaccine.
As Sneider put it, “It shows that Japan is interested in independence and security in Taiwan. It is easy.”
Beijing has condemned what has happened in Japan.
When earlier reports of Tokyo’s decision to send a vaccine to Taipei came out in late May, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded strongly. “We are opposed to those who use the epidemic to stage political demonstrations or to interfere in Chinese politics,” he said. “I have come to realize that Japan makes sure there is enough vaccines at home.”
He added, “I would like to say that vaccination aid should be restored to its original form, which is life-saving, and should not be a tool for political gain.”
Wang’s assertion that politics is involved was not entirely wrong.
Several reports in Japanese and Taiwanese newspapers also mentioned that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a long-time “Chinese fraudster”, worked to speed up vaccinations in Taiwan.
In a statement issued on June 3, Sankei Shinbun newspaper reported that Abe, who resigned last September, took part in the talks and recognized Taiwan’s contributions to Japan during the 2011 devastating earthquake and tsunami.
‘Great success in Taiwan’
In Taiwan, Japanese donations overwhelmed the Tsai government.
Tsai, who was received around the world for his first response to the epidemic, is facing public outrage after sudden increase in COVID-19 levels it started last month. To date, the island has recorded 11,968 cases and 333 deaths, most of which were reported last month.
With less than 3 percent of Taiwanese people being vaccinated, anger is growing due to a reduction in COVID-19 jabs.
Taiwan says the crisis has been exacerbated by China.
On May 26, Tsai accused China of using its power to block the main Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Beijing has rejected the request, however, and says Taiwan has refused to accept the vaccine. China’s foreign ministry spokesman also said Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was prioritizing “political repression over the existing alliance”.
Lev Nachman, a student studying at the National Taiwan University, said the DPP had encountered a problem.
“The reality is that Taiwan needs a vaccine,” he said, “and Catch-22 is that the DPP government cannot afford to vaccinate the PRC.”
If the independent DPP had applied for land support, he said, it would have undermined the party’s legitimacy as an independent party.
But “vaccination in Japan is less political than in the PRC, which is the most successful in Taiwan,” Nachman said.
In addition, the Japanese vaccination process allowed various DPP politicians to stage a protest rally, indicating that they had taken the necessary steps to help the people – although Taiwanese authorities still have a long way to go to vaccinate everyone on the island.
Even supporters of the opposition party in Beijing, a Kuomintang, feels “silent praise” in Japan, says Nachman.
Many Taiwanese people also took to the TV show to express their gratitude when they heard about donations in Japan. According to Brian Chee-Shing Hioe, editor of New Bloom, an online magazine on youth culture, a number of people posted pictures of themselves traveling to Japan before the epidemic as a way to show their appreciation and closeness to their neighbors on the northern island. and politics in Taiwan and Asia-Pacific.
Hioe also looked into more speculation, saying Japanese donations were followed a few days later by a US pledge to continue Rate 750,000.
“The US was secretly integrating this,” Hioe said, “to strengthen the relationship between Japan and Taiwan, which is a major security force in the United States.”
