What US-Japan military exercises can tell us about their plans for a Taiwan conflict

Yonaguni is the westernmost island in the Ryukyu chain, which would be a key strategic location in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. The Japanese military has already spent years planning operations based on this precise scenario and although specific details have never been officially disclosed, past joint US-Japan exercises can help shed some light on their likely operational plan. Her comments triggered the ongoing diplomatic row with Beijing, which regards the remarks as interference in its internal affairs and has demanded she retract them. However, reports that the Japanese and US military were drafting a joint operational plan…