US military, Japan's forces prepare draft operation plan for Taiwan contingency

A draft plan has been drawn up by the US military and Japan's Self Defence Forces to enable the setup of an attack base along the Nansei island chain in Japan's southwest in the event of a Taiwan contingency. Tokyo and Washington will likely agree to begin work to formalize an operation plan when their foreign and defence chiefs meet in early January under the "two-plus-two" framework.

The move is likely to hit Beijing as it sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified with the



mainland, by force if necessary. US Marines, under this draft plan, will set up a temporary attack base at the initial stage of a contingency on the Nansei Islands.

These islands are a chain stretching southwest from the Japanese prefectures of Kagoshima and Okinawa toward Taiwan. The forces of both countries have listed around 40 candidate sites along the Nansei chain. This consist of nearly 200 islands including uninhabited ones.