Japan’s defense minister reaffirmed plans to deploy medium-range missiles to its westernmost island on Sunday, underscoring Tokyo’s growing concerns about regional security as friction with China intensifies over Taiwan.
Visiting a military installation on Yonaguni — located just 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of Taiwan — Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the deployment remains on schedule and is intended to strengthen deterrence, not escalate tensions.
“The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi said during his first official visit to the base. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.”
The planned missile deployment is part of Japan’s wider military buildup across its southern island chain, a strategic arc stretching toward Taiwan and the contested East China Sea. Tokyo has accelerated these efforts amid China’s expanding military capabilities and concerns about a potential clash over the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims as its territory.
Recent friction between Tokyo and Beijing has been fueled by comments from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who earlier this month raised the hypothetical possibility that Japan could join with other nations if China launched an attack on Taiwan. Beijing issued strong condemnations and retaliated economically, prompting Tokyo to dismiss China’s claims that Takaichi had shifted Japan’s long-standing policy as “entirely baseless.”
Koizumi declined to comment on how a Taiwan conflict might affect Yonaguni, in line with the government’s stance of avoiding discussion of specific military contingencies.
Before arriving on Yonaguni, Koizumi toured bases on Ishigaki and Miyako islands. The Ishigaki base hosts anti-ship missile units, while Miyako functions as a key air-surveillance hub with ammunition storage and other facilities. Both islands sit along vital sea lanes and are supported by major U.S. and Japanese bases located further east on Okinawa.
Despite its idyllic reputation as a diving destination, Yonaguni has taken on growing strategic importance. The island houses surveillance radar scanning nearby seas and airspace and an electronic warfare unit established in 2024 capable of disrupting adversary communications and guidance systems. In recent weeks, the U.S. military conducted exercises to simulate the rapid creation of a forward-operating base by transporting supplies from Okinawa to Yonaguni.
The proximity of the island to potential conflict zones was highlighted in 2022, when Chinese ballistic missiles landed in waters just south of Yonaguni during military drills launched after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
In a meeting with Yonaguni’s mayor, Koizumi emphasized the urgency of strengthening Japan’s defenses. “Today, Japan faces the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II,” he said. “To protect the peaceful livelihoods of the Japanese people — including everyone here on Yonaguni — we must strengthen the Self-Defense Forces’ capabilities.”
Tensions have also been fueled by recent Chinese state media reports questioning Japan’s sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands, pointing to the region’s history as an independent kingdom centuries ago. While calls for independence within Okinawa Prefecture remain limited, many residents are wary of becoming entangled in a regional conflict as military infrastructure expands throughout the island chain.
