The Yomiuri did not cite its sources.
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When Japan upgrades its current Type 88 surface-to-ship missiles, which have a range of 93-124 miles, to the new long-range missiles, it will supposedly threaten “freedom of navigation”, Global Times points out. “It is best for both that the scenario won’t happen”.
This footage filmed by the Japan Coast Guard off Uotsurishima islet of the Senkaku Islands between August 5 and 9 shows Chinese maritime operations in the region and efforts by Japanese vessels to counter them by keeping alert.
“Since 2013, Japan has been strengthening its military capabilities along these islands to check China’s rising power in the Western Pacific”, Townshend said.
Global Times, a state-sponsored Chinese tabloid, explained Monday the Miyako Strait is an worldwide waterway which the Chinese navy uses to access the Pacific Ocean.
“It this regard”, he added, “Tokyo’s actions are created to complicate Chinese military operations in the event of Northeast Asian confrontation”.
In March, Tokyo brought a new radar station online on Yonaguni Island, also in Okinawa Prefecture.
“There are usually around three Chinese government vessels deployed in the contiguous zone of the Senkaku Islands, and four or five Chinese government vessels deployed in the area surrounding the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea”, the statement added. “Ground-to-sea missiles will help us shift the power back and allow Japan to defend itself”, explained an official.
The territory is also disputed between Japan and Taiwan. “So it would be hard for Beijing to argue convincingly that this exceeds the bounds of self-defense, as allowed for under Japan’s Constitution”.
The missile system is aimed at enhancing Japanese deterrence by upgrading long-distance offensive capabilities, said the Yomiuri Shimbun, which added in a statement clearly aimed at China that the missiles could be trained on foreign vessels in the East China Sea if activities expand in that area.
China is already criticizing the move.
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However, escalating tensions in the East Asian region occurred after regional countries, including China, North Korea, and Japan, met at the East Asian Summit organised as part of the ASEAN ministerial meetings in Vientiane, Laos, in July. “This makes China’s actions illegal and provocative in a way which Japan’s are not”.
