China

Japan army to monitor Chinese ships

By Cheng Guangjin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-23 08:14

Latest moves by Tokyo pose a serious threat to bilateral relations

BEIJING - Tokyo's further military deployment on islands near China may again raise contentious issues in its relations with Beijing, according to foreign media and analysts.

Japan's Nikkei Business Daily reported on Sunday that Tokyo will send 100 members of the Ground Self-Defense Force, Japan's equivalent of the army, to Yonaguni in Okinawa prefecture as early as 2014.

The island is about 110 km east of Taiwan and 160 km southwest of the Diaoyu Islands.

The soldiers will use radar and other communications equipment to monitor the movements of Chinese ships and planes in the area, collect information from communications between Chinese mainland and Taiwan and strengthen defense in the region, the report said.

Japan is also considering sending border patrol officers to other nearby islands later on to beef up border security, the report said without citing sources, a common practice by the Japanese media.

Japan currently does not have a military presence on Yonaguni, and placing them on an island that is closer to disputed islands with China could become a contentious issue, The Associated Press said.

Bilateral ties between China and Japan hit their lowest point in years following a collision in September between two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats and a Chinese trawler in the waters off China's Diaoyu Islands, which are surrounded by rich fishery resources in the East China Sea.

Hopes for a diplomatic thaw were raised after President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan managed to hold a 22-minute talk on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held in Japan over a week ago.

Yet analysts say frictions are unavoidable in the next few years in relations with Japan, which is feeling increasingly uneasy about China's growth in the region.

In the latest incident, the military deployments are targeted at China's growing naval maneuvers, the Nikkei said.

In a separate development, Japan's Coast Guard continues its attempts to stop Chinese fishery patrolling ships cruising near the Diaoyu islands.

Japan's Coast Guard on Saturday said that the Chinese ships were cruising near the Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea and repeatedly sent messages warning them not to enter the islets' territorial waters, reported Kyodo News.

The ships had responded to the radio messages by saying they were on a "justifiable mission", said a Chinese source.

The Yuzheng 310 and the Yuzheng 201, both fisheries patrol vessels, left the area heading west in the mid-afternoon, the Japanese coast guard said in a statement.

The two Chinese fisheries patrol vessels began a 20-day mission from Nov 16 from China's southern city of Guangzhou to patrol in the East China Sea following the September collision.

"Japan is responsible for causing disputes with China by cornering China's vessels, which are justified to patrol in their own territorial water," said Jin Canrong, a professor on international studies at Renmin University of China.

On the other hand, Jin said the island disputes provide the impetus for China to improve its naval forces and the capability of law-enforcement on sea.

Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of Japanese studies at the Beijing-based China Foreign Affairs University, said Japan's military confrontation with China is not wise.

"Japan has not accommodated to China's development, which it tried but failed to contain, " said Zhou.

"Instead, we should promote regional cooperation and realize coexistence," said Zhou.

Zhou also pointed out that Tokyo's plan to send troops to Yonaguni is a further move to soothe its people's anger over Tokyo's handling of the Diaoyu Islands incident with China.

Yu Yang, Wang Di and Agencies contributed to this story.

China Daily