China Warns US Ally Over 2030 Missile Plan
Beijing has issued a fresh protest over Japan’s plan to station medium-range air-defense missiles on a small island near Taiwan after the island's mayor signaled he would accept the deployment.
“China is deeply concerned about these developments,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during Wednesday’s regular press conference. “Under the pretext of ‘defense' and ‘counterattack,’ Japan is stepping up the deployment of a range of offensive weapons, including missiles, in areas adjacent to China.”
Japan’s Defense Ministry confirmed in February that it plans to deploy Type 03 Chu-SAM surface-to-air missile systems and a garrison of troops to operate them on Yonaguni Island by fiscal year 2030. The island is administered by Okinawa Prefecture and lies about 70 miles from Taiwan's east coast.
Newsweek reached out to the Japanese Defense Ministry via email for comment.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has called for Japan to strengthen deterrence across its southwestern islands amid rising tensions with China-particularly over Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing views as a renegade province.
The move “amounts to establishing a frontline stronghold for military confrontation, threatening regional peace and stability,” Guo said. “Driven by right-wing forces in Japan, the country's security policy is shifting towards an offensive, expansionist and dangerous direction, far exceeding the scope of ‘self-defense' and ‘exclusive defense,’ which is also an irony given Japan's self-proclaimed status as a ‘peace-loving nation.'”
During a meeting with Koizumi, Yonaguni Mayor Tsuneo Uechi said he intended to accept the deployment plan but cautioned against deploying additional forces there, Jiji News reported.
Yonaguni residents have previously raised concerns that the deployment could make the island a target in the event of conflict with Chinese forces.
Mounted on 8×8 trucks, the Type 03 Chu-SAM uses phased-array radar capable of tracking up to 100 aircraft, ballistic missiles or drones, and can engage around a dozen targets simultaneously. Its range-about 30 miles-falls well short of Taiwan's east coast, let alone mainland Chinese airspace.
Tokyo-Beijing ties have spiraled since November, when Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could constitute an emergency warranting joint intervention by Japan and its U.S. ally. Beijing framed the remarks as evidence of Japanese remilitarization and has retaliated with a range of economic and diplomatic measures.
Facing what Takaichi has called Japan’s “most severe and complex security environment since World War II,” the country has doubled defense spending to 2 percent of GDP from 1 percent. The Takaichi administration is also pushing to relax decades-old restrictions on the export of weapons in a bid to boost its defense industry and improve interoperability with regional partners.
Newsweek's reporters and editors used Martyn, our Al assistant, to help produce this story. Learn more about Martyn.
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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 1:57 PM.