ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the careful yet constructive rapprochement that has occurred between Taipei and Tokyo since 2016, in part due to a more permissive environment created by shifting U.S. policy and the pro-DPP views of the Abe Shinzo government. It places Tokyo’s greater embrace of Taiwan – in nomenclature, joint programs and as part of a multilateral effort to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the Indo Pacific – in the context of its own difficult relationship with China. It also discusses joint military responses by the Taiwanese and Japanese military to the more frequent PLA exercises and transits in common waters and airspace. Finally, it looks at possible efforts by CCP actors to disrupt the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, where a set of key military bases which would play a major role in any Taiwan Strait military contingency, are located. The chapter argues that greater cooperation and a greater understanding in the Japanese public and state institutions of the need to ensure Taiwan’s sovereignty are indispensable for Japan’s own security.
