First reported in Japan's Kyodo news agency on Thursday, unnamed Japanese officials detailed the plan was struck between the US and Japanese militaries, and arranges for a forward operating base to be established on southwest islands, where the US Marine Corps would rapidly deploy troops. Kyodo details that "Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military have drawn up a draft joint operation plan that would enable the setup of an attack base along the Nansei island chain in the country's southwest in the event of a Taiwan contingency, according to Japanese government sources." Beijing is certain to react fiercely to the Kyodo news report, which additionally notes that "Such a deployment, however, would make the islands the target of attack by China's military, putting the lives of residents there at risk. Legal changes would be needed in Japan to realize the plan, the sources said." Meanwhile, Beijing and Tokyo have continued trading threats and accusations over fishing and territorial rights in disputed islands - which in the recent past has looked poised to become a militarized dispute.
