Waikato Times

Joint exercise held amid tensions over Taiwan

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Japan and the United States have wrapped up their largest joint military exercise, Keen Sword, amid an unpreceden­ted sense of urgency, as the possibilit­y of a real Taiwan crisis has come to the fore. The drills, conducted in the Nansei Islands, stretched from the southern tip of Kyushu to Okinawa Prefecture and included other areas.

Japan’s Self-Defence Forces are hurrying to identify lessons learned from the latest 10-day drill that concluded on Sunday.

Considerin­g that a Taiwan contingenc­y could spread to the Nansei Islands, the Defence Ministry believes that conducting large-scale exercises in the areas will itself serve as a deterrent.

On a sandy beach of Tokunoshim­a Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, SDF personnel carefully checked to make sure there were no enemies in the area and waved toward the sea to signal that a landing was possible.

With the public invited to watch, the SDF conducted a training exercise to retake an occupied remote island. As part of the drill, personnel in black wetsuits had secretly infiltrate­d the island.

The OK sign to land was communicat­ed to the MSDF transport vessel Osumi and the US Navy’s amphibious transport dock ship New Orleans, both of which were standing by a dozen kilometres offshore. The two vessels deployed 14 amphibious vehicles, which proceeded toward the island. Just before the vehicles reached the shore, a curtain of smoke was created to blind the enemy while the landing troops rushed to take control of the entire beach. Hundreds of local residents gathered on the beach to watch the drill.

The exercise on Tokunoshim­a Island was joined by Osprey transport aircraft from Japan and the US. This was the first exercise involving such aircraft in the Nansei Islands.

A Type 16 manoeuvre combat vehicle (MCV) with powerful 105mm cannons was also deployed on the island. An MCV was also dispatched to Yonaguni Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan’s westernmos­t island, for the first time.

In the event of a Taiwan emergency, there are concerns about a severe impact on the island, which is only 110km from Taiwan.

The MCV is considered a key piece of equipment in the defence of remote islands because, unlike tanks, it runs on tyres and can travel at speeds of about 100kph. Moreover, the vehicle can be transporte­d by aircraft as it is lighter than a tank. The Defence Ministry plans to procure a total of 134 vehicles of this type by next fiscal year.

On Friday, an MCV was brought to Yonaguni Airport by a C-2 transport aircraft and ran about 6km on civilian roads to Camp Yonaguni.

‘‘We were cautious about the timing of dispatchin­g the MCV, so as not to provoke a backlash from residents,’’ said an SDF senior official. ‘‘We had to confirm the vehicle’s mobile deployment capabiliti­es in order to respond to the worsening internatio­nal situation.’’

 ?? JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI ?? Personnel of the Ground Self-Defence Force participat­e in a landing drill on the coast of Tokunoshim­a Island, Kagoshima Prefecture.
JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI Personnel of the Ground Self-Defence Force participat­e in a landing drill on the coast of Tokunoshim­a Island, Kagoshima Prefecture.

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