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The disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China in the East China Sea. Photo: Reuters

Tokyo: Responding to the prolonged friction between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, the National Police Agency has decided to boost security capabilities of the Okinawa prefectural police, sources said.

The Senkaku are known as the Diaoyu in Chinese. The NPA will increase the number of officers in the prefectural police headquarters by as early as fiscal 2015. The officers will be assigned to prevent illegal landing on the Senkakus and other related problems.

In August 2012, a Hong Kong-based private organisation that claims China's sovereignty over the Senkakus landed illegally on the islands. Since Japan's nationalisation of some of the islands in September the same year, Chinese government vessels have intruded into Japan's territorial waters around the islands at least 300 times.

Under the circumstances, the NPA has been beefing up security around the islands by continually dispatching officers from prefectures outside Okinawa, including those from the Metropolitan Police Department. Monitoring territorial waters around the Senkakus on Japan Coast Guard patrol boats, the dispatched officers keep a lookout for people trying to illegally land on the Senkakus, aiming to land ahead of the intruders and take them in custody.

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But those dispatched to Okinawa from other prefectural police headquarters usually leave Okinawa within about 10 days, as the patrol shifts require performing an around-the-clock watch aboard a vessel. As this creates a steady stream of police officers who are inexperienced at such work, cultivating police officers who are familiar with the site and have the appropriate problem-solving skills has emerged as a challenge.

Given these challenges, the NPA decided that increasing the number of police officers in Okinawa, who can regularly engage in such patrol duties, is more effective in enhancing the capability to cope with problems related to the Senkakus.

Washington Post

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Japan to increase police patrols of disputed Senkaku Islands