The "Star-Spangled Banner" with a BACKGROUND OF THE US MILITARY ON THE 18th rarely detailed the "amazing prediction" of a retired general of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces on the 18th - "Chinese mainland plans to annex Taiwan in 2025 and will invade Okinawa, Japan in 2045." The report said that "this remark has caused a sensation", but the Chinese expert interviewed by the Global Times reporter said on the 19th that these statements are just clichés of some diehard forces in Japan advocating the "China threat theory".
From Taiwan, Huangyan Island to Okinawa...
The report said that the strange remarks were made by retired Lieutenant General Oda Kunio of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, who first made such a "prediction" on an English-language Taiwanese news program last month. He declared that Taiwan would first be "annexed" by the Chinese mainland, and that "everything will begin with the PLA's announcement of the establishment of a no-fly zone around Taiwan, and any aircraft that attempts to provide assistance to Taiwan will be shot down." Beijing will then attack naval and air installations in the Taiwan Strait and on the island. In the next step, the PLA will blockade Taiwan until the Taiwan authorities sit at the negotiating table. Oda declared: "After taking over Taiwan, China will have more influence on the Indo-Pacific route and then increase pressure on Pacific countries." ”
Screenshot of the original article of the US media report
According to Oda Kunio, after the "annexation" of Taiwan, China will set its sights on Okinawa in southern Japan. Okinawa currently has about half of the U.S. military forces stationed in Japan. The retired Self-Defense Force general believes Beijing plans to force the United States to leave Okinawa by supporting negative reports about the United States and supporting local forces protesting U.S. forces in Japan. In a telephone interview with The Star-Spangled Banner, Oda declared that "if China can drive U.S. troops out of the region, they could conquer the South China Sea and gain the right to block trade between Japan and other countries." He firmly believes that the key to China's achievement of this goal is to "build a naval port on Huangyan Island in the South China Sea, and through the troops assembled here, it will put tremendous pressure on neighboring countries."
Oda even declared, "China wants Okinawa to become an independent country by separating from Japan, because an independent country does not require U.S. troops to be stationed on the island." However, the report also admitted that although Oda Claimed to have "learned from some intelligence information that China has provided funds to the Okinawa media for anti-American reporting," he was unable to provide relevant evidence.
Retired generals made a big fuss
According to the Global Times reporter, Oda Kunio, 67, is a consultant to Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and a visiting lecturer at Toyo Gakuen University in Japan. He graduated from the Japan Defense University in 1974 and joined the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces until his retirement as a lieutenant general in 2009. Since then, Oda has remained active in the media, frequently commenting on international affairs in Japan and international military forums. Looking at Oda's various remarks, it can be seen that he is "full of confidence" in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and at the same time he is very dismissive of the military level of North Korea, South Korea, and China, especially against North Korea, and his words are very fierce, and he has repeatedly declared that he "supports the United States to nuclearly bomb North Korea." In 2016, it was he who broke the news in the Japanese media that "Chinese fighters had made 'similar attacks' on air force fighters over the East China Sea", forcing Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagi Ikuda to hold a press conference to urgently refute rumors.
Oda Kunio Infographic (From Facebook)
Oda Kunio's "prediction" this time included Taiwan, Scarborough Shoal, and Okinawa, which are of great concern to the United States and Japan, and aroused discussion among all parties. Although Oda Kunio's views have not been widely accepted by Japanese academics, and Hideki Hirano, a professor at Aomori University, even thinks that "these words are very strange", Toshiyuki Shikata, who is also a retired lieutenant general in the Self-Defense Forces, said that he "agrees with Oda Kunio's views in principle" and that "if Chinese mainland really controls Taiwan in the next few years, then it is possible for China to seize Okinawa in 2045." Toshiyuki Shikata even said, "I believe That China will expand its influence on both Taiwan and Scarborough Shoal, both of which are necessary conditions for China to move towards the Senkaku Islands (China's Diaoyu Islands)." ”
According to the Star-Spangled Banner, Japanese and U.S. officials did not respond to the remarks of retired SDF generals.
It's just a cliché
Taiwan's Zhongshi Electronic News said on the 19th that for "Chinese mainland may launch military conflicts in surrounding areas such as the Diaoyu Islands, the South China Sea islands and reefs or even the Taiwan Strait, so as to train troops or verify tactical theories", Canhausen, senior vice president of the research department of the Us National Bureau of Asian Research, believes that "the PLA will try its best to avoid any direct conflict with the United States, even within Beijing's regional sphere of influence."
A professional who asked for anonymity told the Global Times reporter on the 19th that the statement of Retired Japanese generals that China will interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and threaten regional peace after the assumption of reunification is nothing more than a cliché to promote the "China threat theory". The person said that Japan, which has always refused to admit the past history of aggression and refuses to confess its guilt to the countries and peoples that have been violated, is the greatest threat to regional peace. A strong and reunified China is a staunch force for safeguarding regional and world peace, because China has suffered from the barbaric aggression of other countries and will cherish the hard-won peace even more. "These remarks by some retired Japanese generals are 'living in the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain.'" The People of Asia are more concerned about how Japan can correctly face and understand their disgraceful history of aggression. ”
(Editor: LWC)