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| Chinese Navy (PLAN) ships on patrol (File Photo) |
The Japanese government has officially activated plans to strengthen the defensive capabilities of the southwestern regions of the country in response to a large scale naval exercise conducted by the People's Liberation Army Navy in the West Pacific last month, reports Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun.
To strengthen island defense, the Jan. 4 report said, Tokyo plans to make the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's new Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB) part of its core strength and will deploy amphibious vehicles and troops to Sasebo of Nagasaki prefecture in the southwest of the country. According to the Japanese government's strategy, the ARDB, which is modeled on the US Marines Corps, will assume the important role of "recapturing enemy-occupied islands" by 2018.
Meanwhile, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force will boost the total number of fighter jets at its base in Naha, the capital of Japan's southermost Okinawa prefecture, to 40, including doubling its F-15 fighter fleet from one to two, as well as increase personnel by about 450, the report said.
Read the full story at Want China Times