Okinawa to hold drill for possible conflictFIRST TIME EVER: A preliminary plan envisages the evacuation of 120,000 people from the Sakishima Islands in the event of a cross-strait conflict, a newspaper said Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture is to hold an evacuation drill next month to prepare for a possible conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Saturday. It would be the first such drill in Okinawa, the Japanese prefecture closest to Taiwan. An estimated 17,500 people per day could be evacuated by airlift and 3,000 could be evacuated by sea, the newspaper said, citing a preliminary plan, adding that it would take six days to complete the evacuation. People on the Sakishima Islands, which lie between Taiwan proper and Okinawa’s main island, would be evacuated to Kyushu in the event of a cross-strait

Source: Taipei Times February 26, 2023 01:00 UTC