日本是引發或參與近代東亞地區戰爭的重要角色，而台灣則是此一歷史發展過程中的關鍵。殖民統治時期的台灣，在經濟上是日本的農業資源提供地，在軍事國防上則是日本的南進基地。對日本而言，無論是二次世界大戰之前，還是戰後的冷戰、後冷戰時期，台灣在東亞地緣經濟的變遷過程中，一直扮演重要且關鍵的角色。

There is no doubt that Japan played an important role in triggering or even participating in the war in modern East Asia area, and Taiwan is the key to this historical development. In Japanese colonial period, Taiwan is the economic heartland to provide agricultural resources, and also being positioned as a military and defense base for the Japanese southward advance policy. Particularly, either the time previous to World War Two, or the period from the Cold War through the post- Cold War, Taiwan has played an important and pivotal role in the evolution of the East Asian geo-economics.