本城市首頁
看回應文章
等級：8
回應給：
Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto indicated Friday that if necessary the Self-Defense Forces can be mobilized to defend the Senkaku Islands, which are controlled by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.
Commenting on repeated incursions by Chinese ships into Japanese territorial waters around the islands in the East China Sea, Morimoto told a news conference, "Action by the SDF is secured by law in cases where the Japan Coast Guard or police cannot respond."
Morimoto also said sending the SDF to the uninhabited isles would be "a reasonable measure" under the country's legal framework.
During a Diet session Thursday, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said that "if illegal activities occur inside our nation's lands or waters, including the Senkaku Islands, the government as a whole will make resolute responses, including using the SDF if necessary."
Under law, the coast guard and police usually respond to incursions into Japanese territory. If they can't adequately respond themselves, however, the SDF may be mobilized.
Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura tried Friday to water down Noda's remark. "I understand the prime minister only referred to a theoretical possibility," he told reporters, brushing aside the view that Noda's remark was a warning to China over what is seen as its increasing sea provocations.
Concerns over Beijing's growing assertiveness in the East China Sea have been intensifying since a clash in 2010 between two Japanese patrol boats and a Chinese trawler near the Senkakus.
