Source: Bloomberg News
(File Photo)
Japan confirmed that Chinese ships passed through a strait just north of its territory for the first time, a possible show of force after Japan expressed concern that China is expanding its reach in the region.
Five Chinese naval vessels were spotted heading east through the Soya Strait north of Hokkaido Island on July 13, Japan’s Self-Defense Force said yesterday. It was the first time Japan had confirmed such a passage though Chinese ships may have passed through unnoticed before, Takashi Inoue, a spokesman for the Self-Defense Forces, said by phone.
The passage through the strait, also called La Perouse, followed Chinese naval drills with Russia and may exacerbate tensions running high over a territorial dispute and China’s growing military power. Chinese forces are developing new ship, missile and aircraft-carrier technology in a modernization drive that Communist Party leaders insist is peaceful.
“Since roughly 2008, the number and size of Chinese task forces transiting through the Japanese islands has increased,” Taylor Fravel, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies China’s territorial claims, said in an e-mail. “Such reminders of China’s growing naval power certainly strikes a nerve in Japan.”
Relations between Japan and China have deteriorated since last September after Japan bought three islands claimed by China from a private owner. Chinese marine surveillance ships have stepped up incursions into Japanese waters with regular patrols in Japanese-controlled waters surrounding the islands, known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.
Status Quo
Status Quo
China is trying to change the status quo in the region by force in cases where its interests conflict with those of neighboring countries, Japan said in a defense paper on July 9. China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded that Japan is hyping the “China threat.”
Russian naval vessels were also spotted traveling through the Soya Strait, according to a statement on Japan’s Defense Ministry website today. The strait, a 27-mile gap between Hokkaido and the southern tip of Russia’s Sakhalin Island, connects the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.
Seven Chinese warships left Vladivostok July 12 after China and Russia concluded their largest-ever joint naval exercises, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said. Other warships were dispatched to do open-sea training, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Daily website said July 12.
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Amphibious warfare, first-strike options eyed in defense policy revamp
Source: Japan Times
The Defense Ministry will explain its plans to boost the amphibious and pre-emptive strike capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces in its interim revision of Japan’s long-term defense policy, ministry sources said Sunday.
The move underscores the focus the ministry is putting on defending the nation’s outlying islands as tensions with China continue to simmer over the Senkaku Islands dispute.
The interim report for revising the National Defense Program Guidelines drafted by the former government led by the Democratic Party of Japan is expected to be disclosed by the end of the month after Sunday’s House of Councilors election, the sources said.
The SDF currently does not have a military branch equivalent to the U.S. Marine Corps. SDF personnel are mainly tasked with landing on enemy-controlled terrain by air or sea ahead of other forces as part of Japan’s exclusively defense-oriented posture.
The ministry plans to send Senior Vice Minister Akinori Eto to the United States at the end of this month to consult with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on the progress Japan has made in reviewing the long-term defense policy, the sources said.
The move may draw a sharp reaction from China because acquiring amphibious warfare capability could be seen as preparations for a contingency on the Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan.
The only SDF unit that has been assigned a marine role is the Western Army Infantry Regiment of the Ground Self-Defense Force. But in the future, a new amphibious unit would be created by combining elements of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces, according to the sources.
By practicing with U.S. Marine elements, such a unit would strengthen the Japanese military’s ability to retake captured islands.
The ministry is also likely to consider acquiring aircraft that can transport troops without the need for airstrips, such as the controversial MV-22 Osprey used by the U.S. Marines. The tilt-rotor Osprey takes off and lands like a helicopter but can cruise like a fixed-wing airplane.
Amphibious vehicles would also be considered, the sources said.
The New National Defense Program Guidelines are expected to be finalized in December after being deliberated by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner New Komeito. The office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will also play a central role.
The interim report would also spell out plans “to consider acquiring” pre-emptive strike capability to prevent ballistic missile attacks and develop combat robots that can be converted for use in disaster-relief operations.
The long-term national defense policy was last revised in December 2010, when the Democratic Party of Japan was in power. Abe’s government, which took office in December, decided to freeze the current defense policy the following month and formulate a new one by the end of this year.
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