Japan Considering Defenses Near Chinese Islands

Japan's Defense Ministry is considering dispatching border security and coastal monitoring units to islands in Okinawa Prefecture, a move likely to draw protests from Beijing.

Kyodo news reported that the plan to move Ground Self-Defense Forces (GSDF) to the islands which may take place over a five to eight year period is a response to factors like activities in the area by Chinese naval vessels.

As the units would be placed close to China's Diaoyu Islands, which Japan lays claim to, Beijing is likely to lodge a protest against the program.

The unpopulated Diaoyu Islands lie between Okinawa and Taiwan in the East China Sea.

The Self-Defense Forces have only a sparse presence in areas west of Okinawa's main island. The new plan involves deploying several hundred GSDF members in charge of border security to Miyako and Ishigaki islands and about 100 members for coastal monitoring to Yonaguni Island. Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa has already expressed his intention to seek funding next year to conduct preliminary surveys for deploying the GSDF in the Sakishima island chain, which is located south of the Diaoyu Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.

In new versions of the program, the ministry intends to beef up the defense of smaller islands to cope with disasters and conduct warning and surveillance activities.

Earlier, the Japanese Defense Ministry issued a statement saying a Chinese destroyer and frigate passed through international waters between the southwestern Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyako toward the Pacific Ocean.

Beijing responded immediately by saying Tokyo did not need to report the passage of the vessels as they observed international law.

"Japan contained China's military development in its first and second island chains," said Feng Zhaokui, former deputy head of the Institute of Japan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Feng said Japan is taking advantage of military drills in the west Pacific Ocean to strengthen its deployment.

"China's rising military power will certainly cause other relevant countries' concerns," said Feng, adding that the United States and Japan are forming an alliance to contain China.

"Using this opportunity, Japan also wants to get the advantage in sovereignty disputes with China on their sea border, " Feng said.

(China Daily July 21, 2010)