TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japan adopted a new five-year ocean policy on Friday that calls for stronger maritime security, including bolstering its coast guard\u2019s capability and cooperation with the military as China grows increasingly assertive in regional seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new Basic Plan on Ocean Policy adopted by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida\u2019s Cabinet also says Japan must accelerate the development of autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated robots to strengthen its surveillance capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It cited a list of threats: Chinese coast guard ships\u2019 repeated intrusions into Japanese territorial waters, growing unauthorized maritime activity by \u201cforeign survey boats\u201d inside Japan\u2019s exclusive economic zone, increasing joint military exercises by China and Russia, and North Korea\u2019s repeated missile launches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe situation in the ocean around Japan is increasingly tense,\u201d Kishida said at a policy meeting Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s time for us to unite our wisdom among the industry, academia and government for ocean policy reform \u2014 or ocean transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also noted the need to better use maritime resources to achieve carbon neutrality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new ocean policy is in line with Japan\u2019s new national security strategy that Kishida\u2019s government adopted in December in a major break from the self-defense-only principle that the country has maintained under its postwar pacifist constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new strategy provides for the strengthening of Japan\u2019s military power with a strike capability and double its defense budget within five years. The strategy also calls for closer cooperation between the military and the coast guard in any emergency over Taiwan or other possible conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao urged Japan on Friday to stay away from the Taiwan issue, saying it is China\u2019s core national interest and \u201ca red line that should not be crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He blamed rising tensions around Taiwan on \u201cforeign forces that are colluding with Taiwanese independence forces\u201d and said their ultimate goal is to split self-governed Taiwan, which Beijing claims, from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A change in the status quo would cause a \u201ccatastrophic outcome,\u201d he said at a news conference. If Japan takes sides with independence forces, it would lead the Japanese people \u201cinto the fire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ocean plan also says the capability of Japan\u2019s coast guard, which has been on the front line of border disputes, needs to be improved. The coast guard frequently confronts Chinese coast guard vessels approaching Japanese-controlled disputed islands in the East China Sea, North Korean poachers and suspected spy boats, and Russian coast guard vessels near disputed northern islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan\u2019s coast guard is used for civilian policing at sea and not military combat, and the new plans calling for closer cooperation with the Self Defense Force have raised concerns about its role and safety in a possible conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ocean plan also says Japan needs to be more aggressive about undersea surveys and using undersea resources for energy, calling for greater use of the exclusive economic zone outside of territorial waters to build offshore wind-power generators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan has repeatedly protested over Chinese research ships entering Japanese waters or the exclusive economic zone just outside it for apparent surveys of undersea deposits and other marine resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Japan’s new Basic Plan on Ocean Policy also calls for accelerating developing autonomous underwater vehicles and remote robots for better surveillance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":106682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,65],"tags":[8492,8494],"coauthors":[1191],"class_list":["post-73322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy","tag-china","tag-japan"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HJBWSXSZ55DE3G36A5GLCGLM3E","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2023\/04\/28\/japan-ocean-policy-vows-tougher-security-amid-china-threat\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n