On July 2, 2023, the “Tokyo Japan-Taiwan Exchange Conference” held a forum speech in Taipei. Former Japanese Self-Defense Forces Chief of Staff (Commander-in-Chief) General Shigeru Iwasaki (left) was invited to give a speech on “Correspondence to Tensions in the Taiwan Strait” and Reminders” delivered a speech on the topic. The one on the right is the president of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Tokyo and former Japanese defense minister Tokuichiro Tamazawa, and Akio Yabata (middle), the director of the Taipei branch of Japan’s “Sankei Shimbun”, served as an interpreter. (Zhong Yuan/The Epoch Times)
[The Epoch Times, July 06, 2023](Reported by Epoch Times reporter Zhong Yuan Taiwan) General Shigeru Iwasaki, the former Chief of Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (Commander-in-Chief of the Three Armed Forces), pointed out in a speech at a forum in Taipei that the two existing aircraft carriers of the CCP ” “Liaoning” and “Shandong” are not very powerful. He believes that Japan should increase cooperation with democratic countries such as the United States, Australia, Britain, India, and Taiwan in order to achieve regional peace and stability.
Shigeru Iwasaki: Liaoning and Shandong are old aircraft carriers with weak combat capabilities
On the 2nd, Iwasaki delivered a speech titled “Response and Advice to Tensions in the Taiwan Strait” and said that the CCP’s defense budget has been increasing every year, with an annual increase of about 10% in the past 30 years. There are currently two aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong. The Liaoning was bought by the CCP from Ukraine. It was called the “Varyag” at the time. At the beginning, the CCP said that it would transform this abandoned aircraft carrier into a maritime casino. After buying the “Varyag”, it transformed it into an aircraft carrier and named it “Liaoning Ship”. It can be seen that the CCP is completely dishonest.
On July 2, 2023, the “Tokyo Japan-Taiwan Exchange Conference” held a forum speech in Taipei. Former Japanese Self-Defense Forces Chief of Staff (Commander-in-Chief) General Shigeru Iwasaki (left) was invited to give a speech on “Correspondence to Tensions in the Taiwan Strait” and Reminders” delivered a speech on the topic. The one on the right is the president of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Tokyo and former Japanese defense minister Tokuichiro Tamazawa, and Akio Yabata (middle), the director of the Taipei branch of Japan’s “Sankei Shimbun”, served as an interpreter. (Zhong Yuan/The Epoch Times)
“Liaoning and Shandong are both relatively old aircraft carriers,” Iwasaki pointed out. In particular, these two aircraft carriers do not have launchers, and both use the ski jump mode. When the J-15 fighter jets want to climb a slope, if the fuel tank is filled with fuel, they will not be able to climb up. The two aircraft carriers of the CCP look very large, but their actual combat effectiveness is not strong.
Chairman of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Tokyo, former Japanese Defense Minister Tokuichiro Tamazawa and Iwasaki visited Taiwan. Yuzawa also delivered a speech on the topic of “How Taiwan can defend against foreign aggression” at the forum on the 2nd. He pointed out, “Whether a country’s army is strong or not, and how powerful it is, cannot be reflected by weapons and equipment alone.”
Iwasaki said he agrees with what Yu Ze mentioned in his speech at the forum. He believes that “the performance of weapons is very important, but what is more important is the understanding, proficiency and correct judgment of the soldiers who operate the weapons.” According to his observations, the capabilities of Chinese soldiers are better than those of Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. Soldiers are much less capable.
Japan’s Sankei Shimbun’s Taipei branch chief Akio Yata served as the interpreter for the forum that day. He posted on Facebook that when General Shigeru Iwasaki served as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he was catching up with Russia’s occupation of Crimea. He said that at that time, Ukraine had imagined that Russia would not fight, and had hardly made any military preparations for war, so Russia took Crimea almost without bloodshed. Iwasaki said: “The combat effectiveness of a country’s army should be: morale X weaponry X training maturity X logistical supplies. Among them, morale is the most important. The most important thing to determine the morale of the army is how much the people support the army.”
Regarding the experience of the Russia-Ukraine War, Iwasaki pointed out in his speech that Ukraine is a landlocked country, and Russia can use various methods to invade and infiltrate, but Japan and Taiwan are both maritime countries. Unlike Ukraine, one of the biggest characteristics is that it is relatively easy defense. If the enemy wants to occupy a maritime country, it needs to use fighter planes or warships to attack. The economies of Japan and Taiwan rely mainly on the two transportation channels of sea and air. Therefore, the two countries must ensure the safety of the sea and the air in order to maintain prosperity and peace.
Iwasaki mentioned that the battle is not only carried out by the soldiers, it is important that the commander of the battle should have a firm will, and the people must have a firm will to support the army. No matter what difficulties Ukrainian President Zelensky encountered, he insisted on resisting to the end, which showed his determination and won the support of the Ukrainian people. so. He believes that Japanese citizens should discuss this issue together, and Taiwanese people also need to discuss together how to deal with the crisis.
Due to the CCP’s military expansion, it poses a threat to Japan and Taiwan. Iwasaki believes that if Japan is attacked, it should have the ability to fight back. It is very important to prepare sufficient ammunition before the war begins, that is, how to prolong the war and exchange time for space. There is also the need to maintain the security of the online world. In fact, Taiwan is the country that receives the most cyber attacks in the world. Japan also needs to learn from Taiwan how to cope with cyber attacks.
Regarding the way to obtain weapons, Iwasaki mentioned that the ones produced in his own country are often more expensive, and some people say that it is better to buy foreign ones, which are cheap and easy to use, but this kind of thinking is not very safe. He pointed out that how to maintain one’s own country’s weapons manufacturing capability is very important, but the cost is indeed too high. Therefore, he suggested that countries with common values should divide their labor and improve their weapons production capacity together. He also highly affirmed Taiwan’s drone technology and looked forward to more cooperation between Taiwan and Japan.
Democracies such as the United States, Japan, Australia, Britain, Taiwan, and India should strengthen cooperation
When Yu Ze introduced Iwasaki, he mentioned that after resigning from the position of chief of staff of the unified staff in October 2014, he served as a consultant for the national defense affairs of the Republic of China. After he returned to Japan, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed him as a cabinet counselor. Abe once said: “What is happening in Taiwan is what is going on in Japan.” This is the proposal from Iwasaki.
Iwasaki said that he has served in the Air Force for 40 years. He served in Okinawa for the first 6 years flying F-104 fighter jets, and later served as an F-15 fighter jet pilot. He probably flew more than 4,000 hours and had more than 100 emergency takeoffs to monitor foreign military aircraft. . There are three countries around Japan that have completely different values from them, that is, the CCP, North Korea and Russia all want to use military power to change the status quo of the international community.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s planes are very frequently flying around Japan and Taiwan to harass.” Iwasaki pointed out that about 70% of the foreign military planes that have harassed Japan recently are Chinese military planes, and 30% are Russian military planes. During his military career, he had two experiences of scrambling to intercept military aircraft harassed by the CCP. “I am the first Japanese pilot in Japan to photograph a CCP military aircraft on board.”
Iwasaki said that 10 years ago, when he was the chief of staff of the Self-Defense Forces, he made many suggestions to Abe. One of them was that defense policies needed Ming culture. Japan’s overall combat power. “Japan and the United States are a military alliance, so Japan has the three national defense documents. How Japan and the United States will cooperate in the future and what are the obligations of both parties need to be carefully discussed.”
He said that the cost of Japan’s defense force now accounts for only 1% of GDP, and he expects that the defense budget can be increased to 2% after the newly revised three national defense documents. According to his understanding, Taiwan’s defense budget accounts for 2.4% of GDP, which should be insufficient. He believes that Japan and Taiwan should greatly strengthen their national defense in the future. He mentioned that armies all over the world are the same, and they need to make soldiers feel honorable and proud.
Iwasaki believes that Taiwan and Japan should also increase cooperation mechanisms in military intelligence. In addition to the United States, Japan must strengthen cooperation with Australia, the United Kingdom, India, and Taiwan in order to achieve regional peace and stability.
Responsible editor: Li Yuan#
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2023-07-06 18:38:05
