Photo/Illutration Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, right, inspects Sonai Port in Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture, on July 23. (Shohei Sasagawa)

YONAGUNI, Okinawa Prefecture--The mayor of Yonaguni is deeply concerned about evacuating his 1,700 residents to safety in the event of China invading Taiwan, which lies just 110 kilometers from here. 

Kenichi Itokazu called for government support in building an underground shelter when Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno visited Japan's westernmost island on July 23.

“What should I do to protect the town residents in case of an emergency? I cannot get the question out of my mind,” Itokazu said.

Yonaguni plans to create an underground shelter when it rebuilds the concrete-made town office that was erected more than 50 years ago.

Itokazu was not alone in his concerns.

Yoshitaka Nakayama, mayor of Ishigaki, and Masato Maedomari, mayor of Taketomi, also sought government support in building evacuation shelters when Matsuno visited the Sakishima Islands in Okinawa Prefecture on July 22 to 24.

Since a law was enacted in 2004 on measures to protect Japanese nationals in armed-attack situations, Matsuno was the first chief Cabinet secretary, who is in charge of the issue, to visit the outlying southwestern islands.

The Sakishima Islands--which include Yonagunijima, Ishigakijima and Miyakojima--lie within 400 kilometers from Taiwan and are home to about 110,000 people.

In June, the city of Miyakojima called on the Defense Ministry to help install an underground shelter when a gymnasium is rebuilt.

In response to China’s military buildup, Japan set up a Ground Self-Defense Force camp on Ishigakijima in March after opening one on Yonagunijima in 2016 and another on Miyakojima in 2019.

“We want to ask the government not only to reinforce SDF troops, but also to help Yonaguni residents, who are supporting the SDF, live with a sense of security,” Itokazu said during the meeting with Matsuno.

However, the government has been slow in taking measures to ensure locals are protected in the event of a military contingency.

Most airports and seaports on the Sakishima Islands are small.

Runways and facilities capable of servicing larger aircraft and ships are needed to allow for the swift evacuation of the local population.

In March, a table-top exercise was conducted simulating the evacuation of the approximately 110,000 residents of the Sakishima Islands and 10,000 tourists outside the islands.

The Okinawa prefectural government, which conducted the drill, said evacuation would be possible in a minimum of six days if private-sector aircraft and ships were mobilized. But some participants said the scenario is far from realistic.

Matsuno said the government plans to improve the effectiveness of measures to protect Japanese nationals during an emergency by working together with local governments, transportation companies and other concerned parties. 

But he did not go into details about evacuation shelters.

“We need to discuss the size (of the shelters), the robustness of them and goods to be stockpiled after taking into consideration the regional situations, populations, transportation methods for evacuation and time required for evacuation,” Matsuno told reporters.

The National Security Strategy, which was adopted in December, calls for formulating a plan for the smooth evacuation of Japanese nationals, including residents of the Sakishima Islands “in advance of an armed attack,” and securing evacuation facilities, such as shelters.

A group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers working on the issue of shelters has submitted a request to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to set up a panel of experts to establish standards for installing evacuation shelters.

(This article was written by Shohei Sasagawa and Nobuhiko Tajima.)

Related News