Japan's front line: Okinawa and the China threat

DW (English)

Eighty years after World War II, Japan is boosting its defenses on its strategic front line, Okinawa, in response to China's assertiveness. DW's Inside Asian Conflict explores Tokyo's shifting strategy.

Transcript

00:00If a war breaks out over Taiwan, this could be the first place to be involved.

00:08It isn't even Taiwan or mainland China. It's Japan. More specifically, Okinawa.

00:16On April 1st, 2025, the Chinese military held another round of

00:29drills near Taiwan. Japan's officials see a growing threat from China.

00:46China then responded strongly.

00:52The US has also repeatedly warned the threat China poses is real and it could be eminent.

00:59But if conflict came, would the US use force to stop China?

01:07The Trump administration seems to have different priorities and helping Taiwan is not on the top.

01:15With the possibility of conflict looming, how is Japan preparing?

01:20What role does Okinawa on the front line play in this?

01:24The most scary thing is that Taiwan and Okinawa are limited to the field of war.

01:29Even though Shinzo Abe was no longer prime minister at that time, he was still one of

01:56the most influential figures in Japanese politics.

02:01It was also a big deal for the region.

02:04Japan rarely speaks so openly about military conflict, especially linking Taiwan's fate

02:10directly to Japan.

02:13China's reaction to 2022 visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan reinforced that.

02:21Japanese missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone during the military drills.

02:35Mayor Kenichi Itokazu from Yonaguni, the closest Japanese territory to Taiwan.

02:40In 2025, Chinese Coast Guard helicopters flew into Japanese airspace, forcing Japan to scramble

02:47F-15 jets.

02:49In 2025, Chinese Coast Guard helicopters flew into Japanese airspace, forcing Japan to scramble

02:53F-15 jets.

02:55But why is Okinawa, which has just 0.6% of Japan's land area so important?

03:17It has a lot to do with the United States.

03:24Lin Chen Zhong, a researcher at the University of Tokyo, who focuses on China-Japan-Taiwan

03:32relations.

03:33Lin Chen Zhong, a researcher at the University of Tokyo, who focuses on China-Japan-Taiwan relations.

03:38U.S. forces occupied Okinawa until 1972.

03:45In the Cold War, the U.S. expanded its military presence to counter the Soviet Union and what

03:51Washington then saw as its allies in mainland China and North Korea.

03:58Okinawa became a U.S. stronghold in the first island chain.

04:03It still is today.

04:04This is Fumiyaki Nozoe, a law professor at Okinawa International University.

04:17From Japan to Okinawa, Taiwan, and Philippines, the first island chain is the first island

04:22of the United States and China.

04:25In addition to Okinawa, there are about 7% of the U.S. in the Cold War.

04:33And maybe that's why, even after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. remained in Okinawa, working

04:41with Japan's self-defense forces.

04:45Japan is now putting more its own forces here, especially on the island close to Taiwan.

04:52Why?

04:54Because China is getting more assertive.

04:58Japan began to change its approach after a clash between a Chinese fishing boat and the

05:03Japanese patrol vessels in 2010.

05:07The incident took place near the disputed islands, called Senkaku by Japan.

05:12Both Taiwan and China also claimed them.

05:15Japan decided to place its forces from Kyushu down toward Taiwan.

05:34In 2016, Japan established its first military base on Yonaguni Island, the closest one to Taiwan.

05:47Now, most of the key islands in the chain have Japanese military personnel.

05:52�手力になっているかどうかっていうのは、これは実際のところ、あまり難しくてちょっとよく

05:57わからないんですけども、それは中国側の判断次第ではあるんですけれども、

06:03この長い距離にですね、自衛隊が与那軍、つも都、石垣と��どん配備されていったこと自体は

06:10やっぱり日本側がこの地域を守るぞって意思を示したということで、

06:15一種のその抑止力としての思い方だろうと思います。

06:19Not everyone support the change in strategy.

06:31Manami Miyara, an activist from Ishikaki Island

06:35and a prominent leader of the anti-base movement in Okinawa.

06:39Meanwhile, there is still a substantial US presence.

07:09Given Japan's post-war constitutional restrictions on the use of force,

07:23what are legal limits now for Japan if conflict came in Taiwan?

07:39But in 2014, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe started to change the situation.

07:50He reinterpreted the constitution to allow the use of force

07:54under the concept of collective self-defense.

07:58Japan could use military force if a close ally, like the US, was attacked.

08:04In 2022, Japan rewrote its defense strategy.

08:25And there is another fight going on, online.

08:32Okinawa was once an independent kingdom,

08:34a point of history being used by some pro-China posters

08:38trying to make a new strategy.

08:40And there is another fight going on, online.

08:44Okinawa was once an independent kingdom,

08:46a point of history being used by some pro-China posters

08:49trying to undermine Japan's legitimacy on the island.

08:56A Japanese scholar, Yasukatsu Matsushima, who has long studied Liu-Qi independence,

09:02A Japanese scholar, Yasukatsu Matsushima, who has long studied Liu-Qi independence.

09:19There is a lot of news in China,

09:20and it is also a thing that we do not have a fake thing.

09:26But it is always fake news.

09:31It is not only a lie of truth.

09:35It is not a lie of truth.

09:38There is no limits.

09:40Why is China running these operations against Japan?

09:44Do they work?

09:45Research by Lingquenzhong shows that

10:02about 20% of Okinawans do support independence.

10:08However, he says, that doesn't mean they support China.

10:12They want independence mostly for local self-rule.

10:17China talks about the undermined status to increase its influence in Okinawa,

10:23but it is not clear it has worked.

10:29Faced with both military and online threats,

10:32how are people in Okinawa responding?

10:35Some Japanese on the island near Taiwan

10:37are worried about the growing Japanese military presence

10:40means they'll be the first target.

10:44In the 1945 Battle of Okinawa,

10:47many civilians became casualties.

10:56According to official statistics,

10:59about 94,000 local people were killed in the Battle of Okinawa.

11:04Other study says the number might be much more than that.

11:09In March 2025,

11:11Japan released its first Taiwan Crisis Evacuation Plan.

11:16The goal,

11:17move 120,000 people from remote island in just six days.

11:22Yona Guni, just around 110 kilometers from Taiwan.

11:27The mayor of Yona Guni,

11:29he has been involved in the preparations.

11:31The mayor of Yona Guni,

11:32he has been involved in the preparations.

11:33The mayor of Yona Guni,

11:34he has been involved in the preparations.

11:36Yona Guni,

11:37the mayor of Yona Guni,

11:38the mayor of Yona Guni.

11:43The mayor of Yona Guni,

11:44he has been involved in the preparations.

11:45The mayor of Yonaguni, he has been involved in the preparations.

12:15Yonaguni is also building new shelters in response to the Taiwan Strait crisis.

12:21But not everyone is ready.

12:24Yonaguni's airport is too small for the jets Japan plans to use,

12:30and fear of war is already affecting daily life.

12:34The island's only clinic says it won't bring back doctors,

12:38because the situation seems too unstable.

12:42Faced with these challenges, what options do the residents of these remote islands really have?

12:50In late 2024, the U.S. and Japan said they'd move some U.S. troops from Okinawa to Guam and Hawaii.

12:59Okinawa has stuck between powerful countries, and the threat of conflict with China feels closer.

13:16Okinawa has stuck between powerful countries, and the threat of conflict with China feels closer.

13:28Xi Jinping has called on Asian allies to increase defense spending, or even pay the U.S. directly for their defense.

13:38But does Beijing believe he will actually use force to stop them?

13:43Donald Trump has called on Asian allies to increase defense spending, or even pay the U.S. directly for their defense.

13:51But does Beijing believe he will actually use force to stop them?

13:55A few months ago, the U.S. and Japan, when the U.S.-ish

14:00will be in the Arab Union.

14:01They will need to move some more crisis, and the US-ish.

14:04And you will know what the world is going to happen in fear of being the U.S. in a few years.

14:06I don't know what the American people is going to think, but

14:08the U.S. is going to further encourage the U.S. or.

14:10Under the shadow of war, how do Okinawa people imagine their future?

14:40Japan's military budget is going up fast. Tokyo plans to double defense spending from 1% to 2% of GDP by 2027.

14:55The 2025 defense of Japan paints a clear picture.

14:59China's growing military presence is no longer just a distant concern.

15:05As great power competition intensifies,

15:08the question is no longer if Japan should act, but how far it's willing to go.

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