Japan bolstered its military surveillance capabilities in the southern island region of Okinawa over the weekend, reports said, as territorial tensions with China simmer.
The nation’s armed forces, called the Self-Defense Forces, launched a squadron of four E-2C early warning planes at its air base in Naha, Okinawa, yesterday, the Jiji and Kyodo news agencies reported.
This is the first time such planes have been based on the island.
At the inauguration ceremony in Naha, Japanese Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera said Japan faced a “dangerous situation” as China’s continual attempts to “change the ‘status quo’ by force and threaten the rule of law could trigger emergencies,” Kyodo News reported.
“The squadron was newly established to firmly defend our country’s territorial land, sea and air,” he told reporters afterward, according to Jiji Press.
Japan’s air force possesses 13 E-2C airborne early warning planes at the Misawa base in northern Japan. Four of these have been transferred to the Naha base.
The number of personnel there is to be doubled to about 130 by March next year.
On Saturday, a ceremony was held to start building a radar surveillance unit on Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost island, despite protests from islanders fearing the unit will trigger attacks, the reports said.
Yonaguni lies about 150km southwest of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Archipelago (釣魚群島) in China, and which Taiwan also claims.
Chinese ships and planes have approached the disputed island group, repeatedly moving into its territorial waters and airspace, after Tokyo nationalized three of the Senkakus in September 2012, to confront Japanese patrols.
Radar equipment will be installed at the ground force unit on Yonaguni to monitor ships and aircraft in the East China Sea, the reports said.
About 150 personnel are to be deployed at the radar unit by the end of March 2016.
“It’s very important to take a solid surveillance posture on remote islands,” Onodera said after attending the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, Kyodo reported.
The unit will “fill a void of Self-Defense Forces presence” in Japan’s remote southwestern islands, he added.
Both Okinawa and Yonaguni are part of the island region of Okinawa.
The surveillance boost comes at a time when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing to reconfigure Japan’s role in the world, specifically that of its armed forces.
He wants to re-interpret a law to allow Japanese troops to take up arms to defend an ally under attack in so-called collective self-defense.
On Saturday about 70 Yonaguni islanders opposed to the new surveillance unit scuffled with officials connected to the defense ministry, Kyodo said.
The islanders were concerned Yonaguni could become a target in any future conflict between Japan and China.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
RSS