By Nobuhiro Kubo
YONAGUNI, Japan (Reuters) -
Japan began its first military expansion at the western end of its
island chain in more than 40 years on Saturday, breaking ground on a
radar station on a tropical island off Taiwan.
The move risks angering China, locked in a dispute with Japan over nearby islands which they both claim.
Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, who attended a ceremony on
Yonaguni island to mark the start of construction, suggested the
military presence could be enlarged to other islands in the seas
southwest of Japan's main islands.
"This is the first deployment since the U.S. returned Okinawa (1972)
and calls for us to be more on guard are growing," Onodera told
reporters. "I want to build an operation able to properly defend islands
that are part of Japan's territory."
The military radar station
on Yonaguni, part of a longstanding plan to improve defense and
surveillance, gives Japan a lookout just 150 km (93 miles) from the
Japanese-held islands claimed by China.
Building the base could extend Japanese monitoring to the Chinese
mainland and track Chinese ships and aircraft circling the disputed
crags, called the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China.
CHINA THREAT
The 30 sq km (11 sq mile) Yonanguni is home to 1,500 people and known
for strong rice liquor, cattle, sugar cane and scuba diving. Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to put troops there shows Japan's
concerns about the vulnerability of its thousands of islands and the
perceived threat from China.
The new base "should give Japan the ability to expand surveillance to
near the Chinese mainland," said Heigo Sato, a professor at Takushoku
University and a former researcher at the Defense Ministry's National
Institute for Defense Studies.
"It will allow early warning of missiles and supplement the monitoring of Chinese military movements."
Japan does not specify an exact enemy when discussing its defense
strategy but it makes no secret it perceives China generally as a threat
as it becomes an Asian power that could one day rival Japan's ally in
the region, the United States.
Japan, in its National Defense Programme Guidelines issued in December,
expressed "great concern" over China's military buildup and "attempts
to change the status quo by coercion" in the sea and air.
China's decision last year to establish an air-defence identification
zone in the East China Sea, including the skies above the disputed
Senkaku/Diaoyu islets, further rattled Tokyo.
Japanese and Chinese navy and coastguard ships have played
cat-and-mouse around the uninhabited islands since Japan nationalized
the territory in 2012. Japanese warplanes scrambled against Chinese
planes a record 415 times in the year through to March, the Defence
Ministry said last week.
Tapping concern about China, Abe raised military spending last fiscal
year for the first time in 11 years to help bolster Japan's capability
to fight for islands with a new marine unit, more longer-range aircraft,
amphibious assault vehicles and helicopter carriers. Japan's thousands
of islands give it nearly 30,000 km (18,600 miles) of coastline to
defend.
MIXED FEELINGS
Onodera's groundbreaking ceremony on Yonaguni took place s four days
before President Barack Obama lands in Tokyo for a summit with Abe, the
first state visit by a U.S. president in 18 years.
The United
States, which under its security pact with Tokyo has pledged to defend
Japanese territory, has warned China about taking any action over the
disputed islets, but has not formally recognized Japan's claim of
sovereignty over the territory.
Many of the islanders on nearby Yonaguni are looking forward to hosting
the radar base and the 100 troops who will man it because of the
economic boost it will bring.
Others on the island, however, fear becoming a target should Japan end up in a fight.
"Opinion is split down the middle," Tetsuo Funamichi, the head of the
Japan Agricultural Association's local branch, told Reuters. "It's good
for the economy if they come, but some people worry that we could be
attacked in an emergency."
Onodera was also greeted on Saturday by about 50 protesters who tried to block him from entering the construction site.
"Becoming a target is frightening, they won't talk to us about it, we
haven't discussed it," a protestor, who declined to be identified said.
Takenori Komine, who works in an island government office, said it was a
risk worth taking if it meant reviving an outpost of Japan that has
been in decline since a brief postwar boom.
At that time, U.S.-occupied Yonaguni's proximity to Taiwan made it an
entry point into Japan for smuggled food and clothing from Hong Kong.
Since the end of World War Two, the island's population has withered by
some 90 percent. Average income of about $22,500 a year is a fifth below
the national average.
"We are hopeful that the arrival of the young troops will bolster local consumption," Komine said.
(Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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