Japan to expand ground force, ‘exacerbate regional arms race trend’

As Japan plans to expand and strengthen its Okinawa-based ground force unit, a step to further enhance its military capacity in Japan’s southwest islands for the so-called Taiwan emergency, Chinese experts said the move will amplify adverse impacts to poison bilateral relations and exacerbate the trend of regional arms race.

Japan’s Defense Ministry is considering upgrading the Ground SelfDefense Force’s (GSDF) 15th Brigade, which is based in Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa and is in charge of guarding and defending Okinawa, by doubling the number of infantry regiments under the 15th Brigade and upgrading its highest rank from major general to general, Kyodo News reported on Saturday, quoting sources from the Japanese government.

Japanese media reported that the move is intended to improve the defense capacity of Japan’s southwest islands and enhance Japan-US cooperation to prepare for “a Taiwan emergency.”

Chinese experts said the possible expansion measures are the latest move in Japan’s continuous reinforcement of its military capacity in the country’s southwest islands, which clearly targets the cross-Taiwan Straits situation and the Diaoyu Islands.

The upgrade of the 15th Brigade is the latest move in Japan’s continuous reinforcement of its military capacity. Every time Japan moves to enhance its military forces, the subtle adverse effect will be accumulated to finally poison peace and stability between China and Japan, Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

These moves will in the end exacerbate the arms race in Northeast Asia, said Da.