Japan, U.S. to up Senkaku surveillance

In response to China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea that includes the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, the Japanese and U.S. governments have confirmed that the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces will cooperate to strengthen warning and surveillance activities over the sea.

To block China’s move to change the status quo by force, which Japan and the United States consider to be an unacceptable unilateral action, the SDF plans to set up a new permanent unit of the Air-Self Defense Force’s early-warning E-2C aircraft at Naha Base in the prefecture, and expand deployment of the Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance drone.

At a press conference Thursday, Shigeru Iwasaki, chief of the SDF Joint Staff, told reporters he spoke by videophone Wednesday with Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.

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