As Japan, the United States, and France are conducting joint military exercises, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) held a high-level meeting on May 12 to discuss how to tackle the threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The senior management of the LDP, representing both the national defense and the security ministry, discussed various situations at the Senkaku Islands (also known as Diaoyu), the South China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait.
The topics of the meeting were revealed by Takao Toshikawa, a well-known Japanese political and economic commentator, in an Japanese article entitled “Europe Joins Japan, U.S., Australia, and India in ‘Deterrence Strategy Against China’—Its Deep Implications for the Senkaku Islands.”
According to the article, Taku Otsuka, member of the House of Representatives of Japan for the LDP in charge of national defense, and Itsunori Onodera, chairman of security investigation and former minister of defense, chaired the meeting. The topics of the meeting included the following five areas:
(1) The operations of Chinese Coast Guard vessels in the waters around the Senkaku Islands.
(2) The operations of Chinese naval vessels and helicopters.
(3) The Chinese Maritime Traffic Safety Law.
(4) The Chinese regime’s survey report on the topography of the Senkaku Islands.
(5) The situations in the South China Sea and Taiwan.
Japan’s Self-Defense Force soldiers walk from a Chinook helicopter during a joint military drill between the Japan Self-Defense Force, the French Army, and U.S. Marines at the Kirishima exercise area in Ebino, Miyazaki Prefecture, on May 15, 2021. (Charly Triballeau/via Getty Images)
Although the article did not disclose more details of the meeting, it revealed that about 50 LDP members from the House and Senate attended the meeting.