On a clear day, residents of Japan’s picturesque holiday island of Yonaguni can see Taiwan’s mountain ranges rising above the sea mist. For the people living here, just 100km (62 miles) away from potentially the biggest flashpoint for conflict in the Asia-Pacific region, those mountains serve as a near-daily reminder of the dangers posed by China’s push for territory.
Successive Japanese leaders have warned that Taiwan could be the next Ukraine – that Xi Jinping could follow Vladimir Putin’s example and launch an invasion that would risk drawing large swathes of the world into another proxy war.
