JAPAN TIMES


 

 
 
 
Japan plans to strengthen its defense system in the Pacific Ocean as part of the revision of three security-related documents slated to be made by year-end, sources have said.
The government aims to improve the country's deterrence and response capabilities in light of increasing Chinese military activities in the area. The Defense Ministry has begun examining concrete measures on a full scale at the Pacific defense concept office set up this month.

"A vast area on the Pacific side is a defense vacuum," Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters during his visit to Iwoto, the island widely known as Iwo Jima, in the village of Ogasawara, Tokyo.

Apparently with China in mind, Koizumi referred to "increased activities by a neighboring country" in the area and expressed his policy of expanding the presence of the Self-Defense Forces there.

Japan's warning and surveillance network has focused on the Sea of Japan and the Nansei southwestern islands, including Okinawa Prefecture, to counter North Korea's missile threat and China's advance into the East China Sea.

Currently, Japan has no radar system installed in the Pacific area that constantly monitors the skies, leaving the area only thinly covered. In addition, SDF unit presence is sparse there.

Meanwhile, China is believed to be enhancing its blue-water operational capabilities, with its military activities increasing in the Pacific.

China is said to view the so-called second island chain, which connects Tokyo's Ogasawara Islands and the U.S. territory of Guam, as a defense line against the U.S. military in the event of a contingency in Taiwan.

In June last year, China deployed the aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong simultaneously near the area for the first time. That month, a Chinese aircraft based on one of the two vessels flew dangerously close to a Maritime Self-Defense Force aircraft.

This situation made Japan recognize the urgent need to strengthen the functions of SDF bases and develop a radar network in the Pacific.

One of the bases is Iwoto, about 1,250 kilometers south of central Tokyo. Currently, about 290 MSDF members and 110 members of the Air Self-Defence Force are stationed there mainly to refuel arriving aircraft and provide logistic support for training.

The Defense Ministry is considering establishing a pier to accommodate large ships and improve the island's runway for future fighter jet operations.

On the island of Minamitorishima, east of Iwoto, the construction of a firing range for surface-to-ship missile training is under way. Proposals to install radars and expand the runway are also being considered for the easternmost island.

The Japanese and U.S. governments exchanged documents on the development of undersea rare earth resources around Minamitorishima to coincide with last month's bilateral summit.

The deployment of the ASDF mobile warning and control radar system to Okinawa's Kitadaitojima Island is expected to be accelerated. The island is about 360 kilometers east of the main island of Okinawa, and the local municipality has been informed that about 30 members will be stationed on the island.

On the Pacific side, however, there is little land that can accommodate bases, limiting Japan's ability to cover the vast sea area on its own.

"We have no choice but to make deterrence work by combining the warning and surveillance capabilities of allying and partner countries, such as the United States, Australia and the Philippines," an SDF source said.