Japan to develop drones to boost maritime security against China
- In an updated policy, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government warns that China’s rise has rapidly changed the military balance in the Indo-Pacific region
- The draft of the policy also proposed resource-poor Japan should implement measures to facilitate the use of ocean-derived energy, such as wind power
Japan pledged to promote the development of unmanned underwater drones to strengthen maritime security against China’s increasing military assertiveness in a revised draft of Tokyo’s five-year ocean policy, government officials said on Friday.
In the new version of the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, which will serve as a guideline for Japan’s ocean policy, the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that China’s rise has rapidly changed the military balance in the Indo-Pacific region.
The draft also proposed resource-poor Japan should implement measures to facilitate the use of ocean-derived energy, such as wind power.
The government is expected to approve the new edition of the policy as early as this month.
In revising the current version, Tokyo referred to Beijing by name as Chinese coast guard vessels have repeatedly entered Japanese territorial waters in the East China Sea.
Relations between Japan and China have often been strained over the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands, which Beijing claims and calls Diaoyu.