Okinawa, City in Japan

Japanese forces conducted a drill at a remote southwestern island in November under the assumption that foreign forces had occupied the Senkaku islands--the Japanese-controlled group of islands claimed by China, according to several government sources.The drill involving the Self-Defense Forces, Japan Coast Guard and police took place at an uninhabited island in Nagasaki Prefecture with land features resembling Uotsuri island. The island is one of the islets that make up the Senkakus in the East China Sea, Kyodo News reported.Following the two-day drill from November 20 on Tsutara Island in Goto, Nagasaki Prefecture, the government had said the exercise was aimed at improving Japan's response to emergency situations in the country's island areas, and was "not intended for a specific island or a country."China refers to these uninhabited islets as Diaoyu.Tensions have escalated in the recent past between Japan and China over Senkaku island amid rising Chinese activities in waters surrounding the islands.According to the sources, the exercise was aimed at improving the cooperation between organizations including the SDF and the coast guard to prepare for "grey zone" situations that stop short of full-fledged military attacks on Japan.The government selected Tsutara to hold the drill because its coastal shape and its steep cliffs are similar to the characteristics of Uotsuri, the sources said.Using helicopters and boats, the participants held landing drills and went over the roles and coordination of different entities, including a remote-island defense unit of the Ground Self-Defense Force, they said.The 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters based in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture and the prefectural police's team tasked with guarding remote islands also joined the exercise.( With inputs from ANI )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

OkinawaFOLLOW

Okinawa, Latest News

New Delhi, Feb 1 Despite Tesla CEO Elon Musk still not entertaining a bevy of Indian ministers to ... ...

A group of about 300 young people rioted in Japan's southwestern city of Okinawa, pelting a police station with raw eggs, firecrackers and stones following reports that an officer hit a teenager in the face with a baton, media reported on Friday. ...

Tokyo, Jan 25 The Japanese government's advisory panel of virus experts on Tuesday approved a plan to expand ... ...

Tokyo, Jan 21 Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures in Japan will jointly request the central government to place ... ...

In the first intrusion of 2022, four Chinese coast guard ships sailed in Japanese waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea for more than an hour on Saturday. ...

Tokyo, Jan 13 The Japanese government is mulling the idea of shortening the 14-day period of self-isolation currently ... ...

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday that COVID-19 restrictions in the prefectures of Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and Okinawa will be tightened from January 9. ...

Japanese forces conducted a drill at a remote southwestern island in November under the assumption that foreign forces had occupied the Senkaku islands--the Japanese-controlled group of islands claimed by China, according to several government source ...