“The bow of one of their boats was pointing straight at us and they were chasing us. I do not know for sure, but I also saw what looked like cannons,” the 50-year-old fisherman told CNN as he described one of the many encounters with the Chinese Coast Guard. recent years. Although the territorial dispute over the rocky chain has been going on for more than a century, China has increased its presence around the islands, especially in recent decades. This has raised fears that Beijing will pursue its claims to the disputed islands. The Chinese Foreign Ministry told CNN that the Chinese Coast Guard patrols around the waters surrounding the islands were “an appropriate exercise of China’s sovereignty.” But Japan also claims sovereignty over the islands – and is strengthening its military presence in Yonaguni and its sister islands in the Nansei Range, east of Senkakus. And all of this is of particular concern to Yonaguni people like Kinjo, who are worried about China’s intentions. Their island is located just 68 miles (110 kilometers) off the coast of Taiwan, the self-governing, democratic island that Beijing also claims as its own, and they fear growing tensions could upset their peaceful community, especially if Beijing try to limit access to fisheries areas crucial to their livelihood.
Quiet community with a seat in the front row for tensions
Occupied by the United States during World War II, Yonaguni returned to the Japanese in 1972 as part of Okinawa Prefecture, a zone of 150 islands curved south of Japan’s main islands in the East China Sea. It is arguably Japanese, but it is closer to Taiwan than to Tokyo – so close that on a clear day you can see the dim outline of Taiwan’s mountains from the western Cape of Yonaguni. In the past, Yonaguni’s proximity to Taiwan and China made the island, home to less than 2,000 people, a popular tourist destination with divers and hikers. But its location also places it at the forefront of geopolitical tensions as China strengthens its patrols in the waters off the Senkaku Islands and demonstrates its military strength at sea and in the sky near Taiwan. Twenty years ago, Japan’s Ministry of Defense spotted less than 20 Chinese warships – destroyers and frigates – off its shores each year, but not within the contiguous zone, which is 24 nautical miles from its shore. Since then, the number has more than quadrupled to a new high of 71 last year. Including Chinese Coast Guard ships, the number is rising to 110, according to the ministry. China is also increasing its presence in the skies around Taiwan by repeatedly sending warplanes to the island’s air defense zone (ADIZ), urging Taipei to deploy patrol fighter jets, issue radio warnings and sound warnings. Japan also used fighter jets in response to Chinese aircraft approaching its airspace. The ruling Communist Party of China has long claimed Taiwan as part of its territory, although it has never ruled it. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has refused to rule out a violent occupation of Taiwan – a prospect that would not only threaten peace in the region but endanger national security for Japan, as 90% of its energy goes through from waters near the island. In recent weeks, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put the region on alert, especially as China refuses to succumb to international pressure to condemn Moscow’s actions. China has dismissed comparisons between Ukraine and Taiwan, saying Taiwan is “entirely China’s internal affair.” However, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said the island would monitor China “very closely” as events unfold in Ukraine – as do those in Yonaguni. “Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine has made me worried about the future of Taiwan and Yonaguni Island,” said local coffee owner Mitsiko Furumi. “I’m really worried about my grandchildren ‘s future.” When Kinjo started fishing 25 years ago, he never saw Chinese ships in Senkakus, but in recent years, he has had a growing number of dangerous encounters. “I have been stopped with great force. Sometimes I would go there and they would surround me and I would avoid them because it was dangerous and then they would surround me again,” he said. Kinzo worries that China’s demands on the Senkaku Islands and its ambitions to occupy Taiwan may one day expand to include Yonaguni. “Looking at China’s current moves, I have a strong sense of crisis that this island will eventually cease to be Japan.”
Japan is expanding its defense forces
As fears grow, the remote island where Kinzo and Furumi live is changing.
In response to the perceived threat from Beijing, Tokyo opened a Japanese Self-Defense Forces camp in Yonaguni in 2016, staffed by about 160 soldiers engaged in coastal surveillance.
This month, the Japanese Air Force re-deployed a mobile radar unit from Miyakojima to the island to monitor more closely Chinese activity in the area.
In 2019, Japan opened new military bases on the sister islands of Yonaguni, Amami Oshima and Miyakojima, and equipped them with medium-range surface-to-air missiles and 12 short-range surface-to-air missiles.
A fourth base is under construction on Ishigaki Island, east of Yonaguni, which will be operational from March 2023, according to Japanese Self-Defense Forces officials. The new base will house about 600 soldiers and medium- and short-range missile systems.
General Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (GSDF), told CNN that additional defense capabilities are needed to send a strong message to territorial opponents.
“We must protect the territorial sovereignty of our country at all costs. And, we must send our message that we will vigorously defend our country,” he said.
Despite Japan’s recent efforts to strengthen its defenses, Yoko Iwama, an international relations and security specialist at the National Institute for Graduate Studies in Politics, said the country was vulnerable.
“We no longer have the potential (to strike) and we definitely need it. What kind, how many, we need to start talking about, but it is very clear that what we have at the moment is not enough,” he said.
According to Self-Defense Forces officials, Japan’s current missile defense systems can only engage an incoming target when it reaches a range of approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers). But China, for example, has missiles that can be fired from a wide range of warplanes from distances of up to 186 miles (300 kilometers).
Japan’s post-war constitution limits it to defensive action, but Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says the government is exploring options to enable the country to strike bases at enemy territory as part of its self-defense.
Fears for the future
Back in Yonaguni, the transition from a sleepy island to a strategically important defense outpost does not make all its inhabitants feel safer. Inn owner Fumio Kano says, if nothing else, she feels more vulnerable. “I was taught as a child by my grandparents that the presence of a military installation makes you a target of attack,” he said. “I do not agree that military installations are being built on the islands.” But Shigenori Takenishi, head of the Yonaguni Fisheries Cooperative, says too much is at stake to take risks. “We need to increase our defense capabilities, including the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, but that alone will not be enough to protect Japan,” he said. “I think the only way to do that is to work closely with the United States under the Japan-US Security Treaty Act and to further strengthen Japan’s own defense capabilities.” The United States has said that the Senkaku fall under the US-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty, which obliges Washington to defend them like any other part of Japanese territory. US President Joe Biden also said the United States would protect Taiwan if needed, although the White House said the United States had not changed its policy of “strategic ambiguity.” Takenishi says that if China blocks access to the fishing waters around Senakakus, Yonaguni fishermen will lose their livelihood and the whole island will suffer. Fisherman Kinjo agrees. “If the Senkaku Islands are no longer in Japan, the territorial waters will become smaller and if Japan is surrounded by the sea, that will be a matter of life and death,” he said. However, Quinzo says he has no choice but to look at the Chinese Coast Guard ships every time he goes out to sea. “Even if I do what I find scary, I have to make a living. I can not stop working. I just do my job day by day,” he said.
