Japan to enhance surveillance system over disputed islands

The Japanese government on Tuesday affirmed a new guideline to enhance its surveillance and guard system over its remote islands, as well as disputed territories with its neighboring countries, in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hawkish policies on territorial disputes.

The new guideline said that the government will continue to nationalize non-ownership remote islands and set up a system aiming at enhancing its surveillance over China's Diaoyu Islands, according to local report.

The new surveillance system included adopting large surveillance vessels to patrol surrounding areas of the disputed islands and a mechanism of 24-hour aircraft surveillance, despite the risk of further worsening Japan's ties with China and increasing possibility of contingency in the surrounding area.

Ties between China and Japan are strained since the Japanese government in 2012 unilaterally changed the status quo in the disputed islands by "nationalize" part of the Diaoyu islands that are the inherent Chinese territory.

Japan is at odds with China, South Korea and Russia on territories and its dispute with Russia prevents the two countries from reaching a peace treaty since the end of World War II.

The Abe's administration is boosting and lifting bans on the country's defense forces, especially its maritime forces, in a saber-rattling way on the territorial issues and, as an outsider, is cozy up with the Philippines to meddle in South China Sea, despite China's strong protest.

Japan's ties with China showed sign of recovering recently since the two sides last year reached a four-point agreement which says they "agreed to prevent the situation from aggravating through dialogue and consultation and establish crisis management mechanisms to avoid contingencies" surround the Diaoyu islands.