Japan's ground troops to get transport ships amid concerns over China's military build-up in Indo-Pacific
Japan has announced that it will build three transport ships designed to supply ammunition, fuel and provisions to troops stationed on its outlying islands, as part of its efforts to deal with China's military build-up in the region.
The ships will be smaller than the Maritime Self-Defense Force's existing resupply vessels, making them capable of operating in beachheads that lack port infrastructure. Analysts say this makes them ideal for resupply operations should Tokyo ever need to deploy troops to the Diaoyu Islands, the chain claimed by mainland China, Taiwan and Japan, which calls them the Senkaku Islands.
The budget for the three vessels will be included in the defence ministry's requests for 2022, and they are expected to be deployed to southern Japan in 2024. The largest ship will be around 2,000 tonnes, while the smaller vessels will each be around 400 tonnes.
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"This is all part of the continuing modernisation of Japan's Self-Defence Forces and I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that what we are seeing here is a quiet revolution in the Japanese military," said James Brown, a professor of international relations at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
"Japan is expanding its capabilities in a wide range of defence areas, and while that does not mean it has any intention of breaking with the United States for its defence or becoming fully autonomous, it does mean Japan is taking on a greater burden of its own defence and that it is becoming a more capable ally."
It also ties in with Tokyo's commitment to building defence ties with other regional powers, including Australia and India, over concern at Beijing's increasingly assertive presence in the Indo-Pacific.
To underline Japan's new-found resolve to play a more active role in the region's security, Tokyo has already announced that it intends to transform the helicopter carrier Izumo into a full aircraft carrier capable of handling F-35 Lightning fighter jets. Plans are also under way to increase the range and other capabilities of anti-shipping missiles based in Japan's southwestern islands.
Chinese government ships have been seen around the disputed Diaoyus on several occasions this year, and Tokyo has expressed concern at a new law passed by Beijing that permits its coastguard vessels to use weapons against ships operating in Chinese-claimed waters, which analysts say creates the possibility of Chinese ships firing at Japanese vessels in areas of disputed sovereignty.
It is likely that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces will call for vessels that have the capability to land troops on a beach in addition to their logistics role, as the Ground Self-Defense Force's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade is based in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, some 1,000km from the islands.
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force CH-47 Chinook helicopter lands aboard the forward-deployed US 7th Fleet amphibious assault ship USS America. Photo: Handout
The government's announcement comes in the wake of a warning from an analyst at a US think tank that Beijing intends to take control of the Diaoyus.
Dr Toshi Yoshihara, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington and an expert on the Chinese navy and maritime strategy, told Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper earlier this month that wresting control of the islands away from Japan went beyond expansionism.
"Chinese leaders have concluded that if they can gain effective control of the East China Sea, they will be able to stymie US military operations," he said, adding that as Beijing knew its military capabilities greatly surpassed those of Japan, they believed they were in a position to simply seize the islands before the US army could intervene.
Yoshihara estimates it will take four days to effect the complete takeover of the islands, warning that protests from Tokyo about Beijing's new coastguard law and other creeping moves to lay claim to territory have no impact on China.
"If Japan only wrings its hands, limiting its response to expressions of regret and concern, and does not take any substantive action to push back, then there is no doubt that China will move on to the next stage of its 'salami-slicing' game plan for seizing sovereignty," he said.
"Japan will be on the losing end of this contest of wills [unless Tokyo shows] that it, too, is willing to take risks."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2021. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
