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Tokyo - Japan was affected by the conflict between China and Taiwan. It is known, China conducts military exercises around the island of Taiwan. The drills included firing their ballistic missiles toward the east of Taiwan, or its coastal areas. Unfortunately, the missiles were also pointing far towards Japan.
The Japanese government reported that five missiles fell in the waters of its country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This is the first time a ballistic missile has landed in Japan's EEZ waters, since their tensions with China. "This is a very worrying incident involving the security of the country and the people of Japan," said Japanese Defense Minister Nabuo Kishi.
Security observers said, "The missiles that landed in Japanese waters are a warning to Tokyo and Washington, which have Kadena Air Base in Okinawa." China may want to signal that its missiles can hit any target they want. In a statement, China said its missiles "accurately hit the target".
The incident occurred because of the visit of a major White House official, namely Nancy Pelosi as Chair of the US House of Representatives. Many believe his presence in Taiwan is straining the island nation's relations with China. This is because Pelosi's presence seems to show US support for Taiwan to build a sovereign country.
Meanwhile, according to China, Taiwan is not a country. Even the UN is in line with that. Taiwan is part of China filled with separatist groups. Until this moment, China does not recognize the existence of Taiwan as a sovereign country.
Prior to his arrival, China had already threatened Taiwan and the US. China could have invaded Taiwan. Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered combat materials to the Western Theater Command in Fujian province. The location of Fujian Province itself faces directly into Taiwan which is only 340 km from the island.
Various Chinese fighter fleets have been and are on their way there, and are in a combat-ready position. Pelosi when she set foot in Taiwan then stated that the United States was loyal to support Taipei as a sovereign country. "The US commitment to support Taiwan's democracy is vibrant," Pelosi said.
Pelosi also explained that the US will continue to encourage the implementation of the Free and Open Indo Pacific. And Taiwan will be their main partner in that. The presence of the Speaker of the House of Representatives was immediately "welcomed" by China with fighter jets and gunfire in the Taiwan strait, Defense View reported. And it doesn't just end there.
As mentioned above, China immediately held military exercises after Pelosi's departure. On that occasion, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted live fire drills near Pingtan Island, about 120 km from the coast of Taiwan.
The PLA launched about 11 ballistic missiles aimed directly at Taiwan. Citing Defense Security Asia, the missiles crossed Taiwan's airspace before "landing" in waters near the island. The ballistic missiles are believed to be DF-15, DF-16, and DF-17 that crashed in waters north, south and east of Taiwan.
Seeing the increasing threat of China, Japan intends to build a large warship. Japan plans to build two destroyer-class ships that serve as ballistic missile shields. The ships, which weigh 20,000 tons each, will be Japan's largest warships since World War II.
And sure enough, citing USNI, Japan's effort is because it sees the threat of increasing China's ballistic missile strength. Because currently, the task of intercepting ballistic missiles is assigned to their destroyers.
Later, the new ship will be filled with 110 crew, and it is likely to be commissioned in 2027. And the second ship will serve a year later