TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — For the first time, the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies (JFSS) is inviting academics from Taiwan to attend the military simulation of a conflict involving the Taiwan Strait, reports said Saturday (July 1).
The unofficial exercise scheduled for Tokyo this month will examine how a Chinese blockade of Taiwan and a large-scale assault will impact the region, per CNA. The simulation is the third since August 2021, but the first to invite military experts from Taiwan.
A delegation from the JFSS including senior former officers of the Japan Self-Defense Forces visited Taiwan in June. During their stay, they contacted the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), one of Taiwan’s top defense think tanks.
Previous editions of the military simulations mostly involved Japan and the United States. The next event, scheduled for a weekend between July 15 and July 23, included Taiwan because of its location on key supply routes for Japan, per CNA.
The exercise will help plan the defense of Taiwan as well as show options for crisis management. The concept for the simulation was inspired by the late Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s words that if Taiwan had an emergency, Japan also had an emergency, and so did the world.