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Japan’s former leader says Tokyo and allies must show ‘resolve to fight’ to stop attack on Taiwan
- Former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso says cross-strait situation is ‘tilting towards a time of emergency, without identifying Beijing as threat
- Japan must double defence budget to level in line with Nato targets, he adds
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Lawrence Chungin Taipei
Japan, the United States and their allies must demonstrate their “resolve to fight” as a means to deter attempts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by force, former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso said in Taipei on Tuesday.
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He also said Tokyo needed to double its defence budget to 2 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product to enhance its deterrence power and join its allies in discouraging acts of aggression.
Aso, the No 2 leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, made the comments at a security forum in Taipei on Tuesday. He arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a three-day visit.
He did not specify Beijing as the threat to the status quo but stressed the situation had become more serious as the People’s Liberation Army intensified its military operations in the Taiwan Strait and expanded its forces in the region.
“We are gradually tilting towards a time of emergency,” Aso said, adding the change had become more obvious in recent years.
He cited the PLA’s large-scale, live-fire exercises around Taiwan in August as an example of the increasingly grave situation. The drills were carried out after former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island.
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