A former Japanese defense minister said the recent sightings of suspected Chinese spy balloons around the world had underlined the need for intelligence sharing between Japan and Taiwan on aerial threats.
Former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said that while Japan and Taiwan cannot cooperate directly due to the absence of formal diplomatic ties, they can coordinate with the United States to share information.
“We don’t have those bilateral relations with Taiwan, so we don’t cooperate on that, but Japan’s government will have to consider what it does next,” he said in an interview with Reuters on Feb. 16.
Onodera is a senior lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He previously served two stints as Japan’s defense minister from 2012 to 2014 and again from 2017 to 2018….