Japan is building an educational site for surface-to-ship missile launches on a remote Pacific island, a Defense Ministry official said Thursday, as part of its new effort to bolster the country’s long-range strike functions amid China’s military assertiveness.
The ministry has already briefed local officials on the plan to set up services on Minamitori Island, Japan’s easternmost island, about 1,900 kilometers southeast of Tokyo, and start operating in fiscal year 2026 or later, the official said.
If built, the building would be the first in the country to house missiles with a diversity of more than 100 kilometers, according to the official.
The exercises employing an upgraded edition of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Type 12 surface-to-ship guided missile, with an extended range of about 1,000 km, in preparation for deployment in fiscal year 2025 beginning next April, will eventually take place at the new site.
Gen. Yasunori Morishita, GSDF staff leader, said at a news conference Thursday that having Japan’s own diversity of missiles would “maintain competition,” noting that the force has already conducted such education in the United States and Australia.
The plan came as Tokyo aims to gain “counterattack capabilities” to strike targets in enemy territory in the event of an emergency, taking into account Beijing’s military buildup and provocative activities in waters near Japan, especially in the East China Sea.
These functions are aimed at deterring attacks by external forces by approaching and purchasing missiles capable of getting past enemy fire.
This policy is part of the National Security Strategy, the government’s main defense regulations reorganized at the end of 2022, marking a major shift from Japan’s post-war exclusively defense-oriented policy, beginning with its Pacifist constitution.
The GSDF deployed surface-to-ship missile arrays to Miyako and Ishigaki Islands in southern Okinawa Prefecture, Uruma on Okinawa Island, and Amami-Oshima Island in southwestern Kagoshima Prefecture.
Minamitori Island has no civilian population, only members of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Forces and the Meteorological Agency’s corps of workers are stationed there.
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© Kyodo News.
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