Located just 70 miles from the eastern coast of Taiwan, Yonaguni is significantly closer to Taipei than it is to Tokyo. On a clear day it’s even possible to trace Taiwan’s coastline on the horizon.
Once a popular destination for divers, who would come to see hammerhead sharks and underwater ruins, Yonaguni is now poised to become a front line in a future war between China and Taiwan.
Today, its rolling green hills host sprawling radar sites and units for PAC-3 missile interceptors, which residents say are disrupting their phone service.
The island’s indigenous breed of wild horses graze at the foot of an expanding military base for Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (JSDF), which could soon outnumber civilians.
Yonaguni, which is part of Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture, is also the closest territory to Taiwan that the United States, as a Japanese ally, can access – a factor that has become increasingly important as China ramps up its military pressure against Taiwan.
Experts agree that US involvement in a war between China and Taiwan would be decisive – without American support it is unlikely that Taiwan would remain autonomous. However, thousands of miles away, the US would be at a disadvantage, unless it can make use of outposts in the region, including Yonaguni.
It’s part of a broader militarisation effort that has swept across the Indo-Pacific, from Japan down to the Philippines, as the region prepares for the worst.