Japan sends more troops to disputed islands

Japan sends more troops to disputed islands

More Japanese troops will be sent to disputed islands Yonaguni, Miyako and Ishigaki, potentially heating up the tense territorial argument between Japan and China, the Japanese daily newspaper Nikkei, which did not specify sources, said today.

Roughly 100 members of the Ground Self-Defense Force will be stationed at Yanaguni Island by 2014. Yanaguni and the two other islands are part of an archipelago known in Japan as Senkaku and in China as Diaoyu. The Japanese Coast Guard spotted two Chinese fishing vessels near one of the islands yesterday. The incident comes nearly three months after a collision between a Japanese Coast Guard patrol boat and a Chinese fishing trawler which resulted to the arrest of the captain of the Chinese vessel by the Japanese. That sparked a row which saw China withdrew its foreign minister and allegedly also limited the exportation of rare earth minerals.

Protests in both countries soon followed. During the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Yokohama earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan reaffirmed his country’s position with Chinese President Hu Jintao regarding claims to the disputed islands at the East China Sea, while subtly urging “mutually beneficial” actions on the part of both countries. The two Asian neighbors have an agreement drafted in 2008 for joint exploration of the disputed region surrounding the islands. The area is believed to have precious oil and natural gas reserves.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has volunteered to broker a deal but China was not interested in the offer, saying that the matter is between China and Japan.

Posted by James Fried on Sunday November 21 2010, 8:16 AM EST. Ref: Bloomberg. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0