Japan will deploy several of its most advanced fighter aircraft to Okinawa in response to the increasing military threat from China, a newspaper said yesterday, while a Japanese official confirmed the plans.
The deployment of two dozen F-15J Eagle fighters to Japan's southernmost prefecture -- which at its nearest point is only 180km away from Taiwan -- will be completed by the end of 2009, the Japanese-language daily Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The presence of F-15Js on Okinawa would significantly increase Japanese military capabilities in the Taiwan Strait.
Currently, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), Japan's air force, maintains 24 F-4EJ Phantom fighters in the 302nd Fighter Squadron, 83rd Air Wing at a base in Naha City, the prefectural capital. The base is located next to Naha International Airport.
A Japanese defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deployment plans. He acknowledged that the situation in the Taiwan Strait "concerned" Tokyo, but had no comment on whether the move was meant to send a signal to Beijing.
Tokyo has recently begun to take an increasingly hard-line approach toward China regarding the Taiwan Strait. In February, the US and Japan for the first time publicly dubbed the Taiwan Strait an area of "mutual concern."
Hawks in Japan's ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), have been even more blunt.
"It would be wrong for us to send a signal to China that the US and Japan will watch and tolerate a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan," LDP Secretary-General Shinzo Abe said in February.
Also, in its "2005 National Defense Program Guideline," the Japanese Cabinet said "a number of countries are pouring in efforts to modernize their military forces. The situation on the Korean Peninsula is unpredictable and cross-Taiwan Strait relations remain uncertain."
"China, which has a major impact on regional security, continues to modernize its nuclear forces and missile capabilities as well as its naval and air forces. China is also expanding its area of operation at sea," the report said.
"We shall have to remain attentive to its future actions," it said.
The deployment of the F-15Js could raise hackles in China, which regularly criticizes Japan for what it perceives as a resurgence of militarism.
China-Japan relations, already chilly, worsened sharply this week when Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (
According to the authoritative Jane's World Air Forces, the F-15J is an air superiority fighter with a maximum range of 4,074km. That range can be increased through aerial refueling. Although Japan does not possess any aerial refueling aircraft, the JASDF regularly conducts aerial refueling exercises using US military tankers.
Japan and the US have a very close security relationship. Under the 1960 "Treaty of Mutual Security and Cooperation," the US is responsible for defending Japan, and it maintains approximately 47,000 military personnel in the country.
The vast bulk of these are located on Okinawa, which hosts the US' Third Marine Expeditionary Force, as well as one of the largest US Air Force facilities in the Pacific, Kadena Air Base.
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