Japan opens radar station close to disputed isles in move bound to rile China

Japan on Monday switched on a radar station in the East China Sea, giving it a permanent intelligence gathering post close to Taiwan and a group of islands disputed by Japan and China, a move bound to rile Beijing. The new Self Defence Force base on the island of Yonaguni is at the western extreme of a string of Japanese islands in the East China Sea, 150 km (90 miles) south of the disputed islands known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. China has raised concerns with its neighbours and in the West with its assertive claim to most of the South China Sea where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.

It means we can keep watch on territory surrounding Japan and respond to all situations.

Daigo Shiomitsu, a Ground Self Defence Force lieutenant colonel

Japan has long been mired in a territorial dispute with China over the East China Sea islands. The 30-sq-km (11-sq-mile) island is home to 1,500 people, who mostly raise cattle and grow sugar cane. The Self Defence Force contingent and family members will increase the population by a fifth. "This radar station is going to irritate China,“ said Nozomu Yoshitomi, a professor at Nihon University and a retired major general in the Self Defence Force. In addition to being a listening post, the facility could be used a base for military operations in the region, he added.

Senkaku