The JS Mochisio, an Oyashio-class submarine of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. (Internet photo)
If China and Japan were to go to war, Kobe, Japan's sixth-largest city, would likely be the People's Liberation Army's first point of attack, according to the Tokyo-based Shukan Gendai, also known as Modern Weekly, on June 18.
Kobe would be a primary target for the PLA because the city is home to two of Japan's major submarine manufacturers, Mitsubishi and Kawasaki, the weekly magazine said.
Amid rising tensions between the two nations over islands in the disputed East China Sea, Japanese military expert Mitsuhiro Sera told Shukan Gendai that fighters of the PLA Air Force or Navy usually fly at least 800 meters away from Japanese aircraft when they encounter each other in the air. However, Sera said that the rules have changed and Chinese fighters recently flew extremely close to Japanese aircraft over the region.
Sera said that the PLA is likely to attack where it is least expected, with Kobe coming top of the list. Echoing Sera, a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force officer told the magazine that he would also choose to attack Kobe if he were a PLA general.
Mitsubishi and Kawasaki manufacture submarines for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force at their facilities in Kobe. Submarines would play an important role in a naval campaign between China and Japan, and if the PLA were to strike the two facilities it would leave Japan exposed, China's Global Times wrote.
