日台米、戦う覚悟が台湾海峡の抑止力

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(1)
(a) Sakura Murakami 村上さくら and Satoshi Sugiyama, Japan, US Must Show Resolve to Fight for Taiwan, Ex-PM Aso Says. Reuters, Aug 8, 2023.
https://www.reuters.com/world/as ... so-says-2023-08-08/
(b) 日台米、戦う覚悟が台湾海峡の抑止力＝麻生自民副総裁. ロイター, Aug 8, 2023.
https://jp.reuters.com/article/aso-tw-idJPKBN2ZJ040

Note:
(i) Now No 2 in Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan but holding no government position, Aso gave a talkin Taipei on Tuesday, Aug 8, 2023, which resulted in this pe=iece of news.
(ii) quotation in English: "I believe that now is the time for Japan, Taiwan, the United States and other like-minded countries to be prepared to put into action very strong deterrence. * * * It's the resolve to fight."

quotation in English: 「今ほど日本、台湾、アメリカなどの有志国に強い抑止力を機能させる覚悟、戦う覚悟が求められている時代はない」
(B) Japanese-English dictionary:
* ima-hodo 今ほど; 今程 【いまほど】 (exp[pression]): "(usu. with negative sentence)  as (much as) it is now"  (Both ima and hodo are, respectively, Japanese pronunciation of 今 and 程.)
* yūshi 有志 【ゆうし】 (n or adj): "interested person"
   ^ Examples in Japanese: 有志一同 all those interested (in the matter), all those willing; 有志連合 (proper noun) "Coalition of the Willing (nations who supported America's preemptive strike in Iraq in 2003)" )
* yoku-shi-ryoku 抑止力 【よくしりょく】 (n): "deterrence; ability to deter" (The three -- yoku, shi, ryoku -- are Chinese pronunciations.)
* kin 機能 【きのう】(noun or its corresponding verb 機能する, both means "function")
   ^ 機能させる to make it function, it being the deterrence.
* kaku-go 覚悟 【かくご】 (n,v): "readiness; preparedness; resolution   <私たちは最悪の場合の覚悟はできている。 We are prepared for the worst>"  (The "kaku" is the Chinese pronunciation of kanji 覚."
   ^ kesshi-no-kaku-go 決死の覚悟 【けっしのかくご】 (exp,n): "(usu. 〜で) readiness to die; (in the) face of death"
* tataka-u 戦う 【たたかう】 (v): "to make war (on); to wage war (against); to go to war (with); to fight (with)"
(C) 戦う覚悟 was in the titles of news reports in Japan.


(2) 外交部发言人就日本政客麻生太郎窜台妄言答记者问. 中华人民共和国外交部, Aug 9, 2023 (Beijing time).
https://www.mfa.gov.cn/web/wjdt_ ... 0809_11124305.shtml
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Aug 8 (Reuters) - Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday that a tougher security environment in the Taiwan Strait means Japan, the United States and others need to show strong resolve to come to Taiwan's defence if it were attacked.

"The most important thing now is to make sure that war doesn't break out in the Taiwan Strait," Aso, vice president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said in a speech in Taipei during a three-day visit to Taiwan.

"I believe that now is the time for Japan, Taiwan, the United States and other like-minded countries to be prepared to put into action very strong deterrence," he said in remarks streamed online. "It's the resolve to fight."

He added that clearly showing the will to defend Taiwan was a form of deterrence. He did not specify China as the aggressor, but said it was crucial for Japan, as a neighbour of Taiwan, and other countries that are upholding international order, to send the message to China and the rest of the international community.

Aso is the most senior Japanese political official to visit Taiwan since 1972.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan's government strongly rejects China's sovereignty claims.

Speaking before Aso at the same forum, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said her government was committed to improving its defences and did not take the backing of its security partners for granted.

"While we don't seek military confrontation and hope for a peaceful, stable and beneficial coexistence with our neighbours, Taiwan is always ready to defend our democracy and way of life," she said.

Tensions over Taiwan have contributed to a decision by close U.S. ally Japan to boost its defence spending.

In 2021, Aso, then deputy prime minister, called any invasion of Taiwan by China a "threat to Japan's survival" and said Japan and the U.S. would defend Taiwan together should such an incident happen.

Those comments angered China, which said the remarks "harmed the political foundation of China-Japan relations."

Aso meet Tsai on Tuesday afternoon at the presidential office, where he told her about the popularity of Taiwanese comic books in Japan.

Tsai thanked Aso for the "encouragement" in his morning speech.

Reporting by Sakura Murakami, Satoshi Sugiyama, Kantaro Komiya in TOKYO; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Gerry Doyle