The meeting came a day after more than 60 members of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) set up a study group that intends to call on the government to take additional measures to underline Japan’s sovereignty over the disputed islands.

Tokyo has been alarmed at the growing pressure Chinese government ships are exerting on the region, with Chinese vessels present in territorial waters or the surrounding contiguous zone for a record 111 consecutive days until earlier this month.

Beijing on Sunday also lifted a ban on Chinese fishing boats operating in waters close to the islands and Japan Coast Guard vessels have reported that Chinese boats are nearby, although it is understood none have yet entered Japanese waters.

At the study group’s inaugural meeting, its head Tomomi Inada, a former defence minister, said China’s escalating assertiveness threatened Japan’s control of the islands. Inada is acting secretary general of the LDP, indicating the group has at least tacit support from the highest echelons of the government.

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The group intends to draw up a series of proposals that would reinforce Japan’s sovereignty, although it is likely that the implementation of any of the projects would antagonise Beijing. One suggestion is legislation requiring the government to carry out studies of the flora and fauna of the islands and their surrounding waters. The last such survey was conducted in 1979.

A former government official who took part in the study that year told the group that constructing a helicopter pad or a lighthouse would technically be possible, the Mainichi newspaper reported, though building a harbour to shelter fishing boats would be more challenging as there were no suitable areas.

Shoichi Yamada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University and a personal friend of a number of the group’s members, said its aims had broad support from conservatives.

“Kono spoke with the Chinese ambassador this week and asked him to ensure that the Chinese military makes no provocative moves around the islands, so the Japanese government is doing something, but they are using diplomacy while China is using force,” he said.

“I believe that one of the most simple moves would be to carry out the survey of the islands that has already been proposed, but Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe is quite reasonably afraid that could provoke China into a military retaliation.”

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Yamada believes the present United States administration cannot be relied upon to come to Japan’s assistance should a clash occur, but he suggests that if American scientists could be convinced to take part in the survey on a private basis then China would be less likely to respond militarily.

There was a fish processing plant on the islands that employed more than 200 people between 1900 and 1940, but they have been uninhabited since the business failed. Ideally, conservatives would like to see a Japanese settlement on the islands, but Yamada said that was extremely unlikely given their remoteness, lack of infrastructure and the possibility of a permanent settlement triggering such anger in Beijing that it led to military action.

“We have to be realistic,” he said. “Right now, the Japan Self-Defence Forces are not strong enough to confront the Chinese military on our own, and it is not clear what the US is thinking at the moment.”

He pointed out, however, that Japan could take a leaf from China’s book and insist it was important that navigational equipment and lighthouses should be installed on the islands to assist local fishermen, while port facilities would be a welcome refuge for any small boats caught in a storm. China made similar claims when it first started developing the atolls and reefs of the South China Sea, although many have now been enlarged to the point that they serve as bases for significant military units.

Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, said while nationalist politicians might have ambitions of developing the islands, no government would be willing to take that step.

“China has undoubtedly upped the ante with the tempo of its patrols and incursions increasing dramatically in recent months,” he said, adding that while creating a study group on any given issue “is part and parcel of politics in a democracy”, it is also very limited in comparison to the “aggressive moves” China is making at the moment.

Kingston also said it was “impossible” that Japan would build infrastructure on the islands or make any moves that could be construed as upsetting the present status quo around the islands.

“I can see why some conservatives would brute these ideas about, but they’re just words and the Japanese government won’t act on them,” he said.

“Officials in Tokyo will not see them as making Japan any safer or enhancing Japanese territorial claims. They are stretching the envelope, but they will justify that by saying that they are just responding to a problem that is of China’s making.”