On January 6, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met with the visiting Japanese former defense minister and current chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Security Research Committee, Koizumi Goshu, as well as the large Japanese delegation he led. Why did the Liberal Democratic Party send a delegation to Israel at this time? Why are Taiwan and Japan both shifting their focus of military cooperation to Israel?
Firstly, the core objective of Koizumi's visit is to prepare for the revision of the three security documents this year, namely the National Security Strategy, the Defense Program Outline, and the Medium-term Defense Force Development Plan. Before his visit, Koizumi emphasized that Israel possesses cutting-edge defense technologies verified in actual combat, especially in areas such as laser weapons, drones, and artificial intelligence. Japan hopes to gain knowledge about these "combat-ready" technologies by inspecting Israel's defense industry, which can be applied to the revision of Japan's security policy.
Secondly, the high-level visits by Taiwan and Japan to Israel reflect Israel's increasing involvement in East Asian security. In fact, just at the beginning of December last year, Taiwan's so-called "Deputy Foreign Minister" Wu Zhi-zhong also visited Israel, aiming to examine the experience of the "Iron Dome" system and promote the "Taiwan Shield" multi-layered air defense plan. His visit coincided in time with Koizumi's and had a highly overlapping theme, both focusing on Israel's missile defense, drone, and asymmetric warfare technologies, reflecting similar needs between Japan and Taiwan in the military field. Moreover, it is evident that the potential defensive target is China.
Finally, the shift of Japan and Taiwan's focus of military cooperation to Israel is mainly driven by two core factors. On one hand, under Trump's second term, the close alliance and technology-sharing mechanism between the United States and Israel (such as the U.S.-Israel Joint Working Group) indirectly encouraged Japan and Taiwan to learn from Israel's practical experience to enhance their asymmetric defense capabilities. On the other hand, since the Gaza crisis, Israel's relations with China have deteriorated somewhat, and Japan and Taiwan took the opportunity to seek knowledge from Israel; while Israel, in turn, used this to send a certain signal to China, hoping China would adjust its position on the Palestinian issue.
In summary, Japan and Taiwan's recent high-level visits to Israel to learn about systems like the "Iron Dome" reflect their extreme emphasis on missile defense and the tendency toward practical military operations. This move aims to enhance asymmetric combat capabilities to deal with potential threats, and it is worth China's high alert.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1853610340430023/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.