TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Japan is beefing up defenses on its outer islands close to Taiwan in preparation for a Taiwan Strait conflict, which would affect its national security.

It views Beijing’s ambitions to annex Taiwan as a core security challenge for Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“These islands are so exposed, so close to Taiwan,” Takuya Matsuda, an assistant professor at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, said. These include the Yonaguni, Ishigaki, and Miyakojima islands. If China moves on Taiwan, it may attempt to take out American bases and troops in southwestern Japan and beyond to prevent the US from intervening, per WSJ.

Japan’s efforts seek to protect its vulnerable islands, but they also prevent China from operating freely in the region, Matsuda said. Beijing needs to consider Taiwan, the US, and Japan’s coastal defense capabilities if it plans to implement a blockade or keep the US military out of the region.

“When Japan says a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency, it’s not that Japan will actually go into the Taiwan Strait and help Taiwan,” Matsuda said. “It’s more that armed conflict over Taiwan is inseparable from Japan’s own territorial defense. Inadvertently, that will help Taiwan.”

Missile batteries, including Patriot air-defense systems, have been moved into position on Yonaguni, Ishigaki, and Miyakojima islands. Radar equipment is also being upgraded, while several hundred military personnel are stationed on at least four other islands, according to Japanese defense officials.

Yonaguni is preparing to host jamming equipment to counter air threats, the officials said. It will also receive surface-to-air missiles in 2030.

Kyushu is turning into a launch point for Japan’s southwest defense, WSJ said. It is home to the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade. In 2027 or 2028, the Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile will be deployed in Kyushu.

Taro Kono, a former defense minister, said that “The Chinese military is building up, and they’re getting aircraft carriers, increasing the number of jet fighters, increasing the number of submarines.” “We should have been going much faster, but we lagged behind.”

Akihisa Nagashima, a lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Japan’s future is intertwined with Taiwan’s. “If Taiwan is placed under control by Beijing, whether by peaceful means or forceful means, that would collapse the very foundations of Japanese national security,” Nagashima said.

China’s territory would be only a few dozen miles from Japan’s southwest, effectively shifting the border from Shanghai to Taipei, he said. “It’s tremendous pressure.”