By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Okinawa seeks Tokyo's help lowering tensions with China
20220506-090338-preview.jpg
In this image made from video, Japan's southern island of Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki speaks online Friday, May 6, 2022, from the prefectural capital of Naha ahead Okinawa's 50th anniversary of its reversion to Japan on May 15. Japan should do more for peaceful diplomacy with China and not just focus on arms deterrence as tensions rise around Taiwan to the west of Okinawa, said the southern island prefecture's governor Friday, demanding further reduction of its security burden and its risk hosting U.S. military there. - photo by Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan via AP
TOKYO (AP) — Japan should do more for peaceful diplomacy with China and not just focus on arms deterrence as tensions rise around Taiwan to the west of Okinawa, said the southern island prefecture's governor Friday, demanding further reduction of its security burden and its risk hosting U.S. military there. “We are strongly alarmed,” Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said, by discussions at parliament about a potential Taiwan emergency — particularly on the premise that Okinawa would be embroiled because of its relative closeness 600 kilometers (370 miles) east of Taiwan across the East China Sea.