The government recently held the first meeting of a panel of experts to discuss how to get a clear picture of the actual situation of land use around important security-related facilities. Their agenda may include how to collect private information such as the land acquirer's nationality and whether to implement new land restrictions or not.
"I've heard people's concerns about murky land transactions taking place around defense facilities and on remote border islands. We should be responsible and solve this issue," Hachiro Okonogi, who is in charge of territorial issues as the chair of the National Public Safety Commission, said at the beginning of the meeting, stating his expectations for the panel's discussion.
The panel comprises seven experts, including former Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobukatsu Kanehara and Prof. Akira Morita of Tsuda University. At the first meeting, they confirmed the current state of affairs and discussed the direction of their discussion and other issues.
In areas around the Self-Defense Forces' bases and on remote border islands that serve as the bases of territorial claims, some land acquisition cases by foreign nationals or foreign companies have been confirmed. If such land were used by foreign governments for intelligence-gathering or other purposes, it would pose a security risk. However, the government has not identified who bought these land properties, or why.
With the risk in mind, the panel will sort out the ways of collecting information regarding land use and compile a proposal as early as before the end of this year. First, they will define facilities that are important for security, and then come up with a proposal that will include concrete ways to gather information on such things as the purposes for which land is used, the nationalities of land acquirers and their ties to foreign countries.
Currently, property registration is compulsory, but registration of a transfer is voluntary. So, there are some cases in which ownership registration has not been updated for many years.
Furthermore, the Justice Ministry oversees real property registration while land transactions should be reported to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry. Since various government ministries and agencies separately manage land information, it is not managed in an integrated fashion. To address the situation, the panel will discuss setting up a system to consolidate land information held by respective government ministries and agencies.
Meanwhile, some government officials propose introducing a strong restriction called the "right of first refusal (ROFR)," as a new measure to limit land acquisition by foreign companies. Under the ROFR concept, the government can buy land before a foreign entity does.
One example of the government buying land in potentially sensitive areas was its purchase of the Senkaku islands in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, in 2012. The islands, previously privately owned, are now under the ownership and control of the central government.
However, a source close to the government said, "As land restrictions could lead to restrictions on private rights, it is difficult to organize points of discussion." So, the government plans to carefully discuss the issue, also taking into account international rules.
Based on the panel's proposal, the government will submit a bill to an ordinary Diet session to be convened next year. The bill would give the government authority to conduct land surveys near "facilities that are important for security."
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