Remote islands near the national border have a vital role to play as footholds for protecting the nation's territory and territorial waters. The nation should steadily craft a framework for preserving these islands and ensuring their security is not threatened.
The government has adopted, via approval by the Cabinet, the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, which lays out policy guidelines for the next five years. The plan's most notable feature is its emphasis on strengthening national security through steps such as beefing up defense of remote islands.
China is making assertive maritime advances, and North Korean fishing vessels continue to operate illegally in waters exclusive to Japan. The Japan Coast Guard's capabilities should be reinforced, and government ministries and agencies should work closely together to implement comprehensive maritime security measures.
The basic plan trumpets "preservation and management of remote islands" as a priority issue. Of the 525 remote islands near Japan's border, 98 have some privately owned land. The government will survey the ownership of these islands, especially plots of land along the shoreline. The government will focus on islands including Sadoshima in Niigata Prefecture and Tsushima in Nagasaki Prefecture.
These remote islands serve as reference points for demarcating Japan's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone. Accurately grasping the present state of these islands, and checking whether any land on them has been acquired using foreign capital, would be the first step toward properly managing them. Cooperation with local governments also will be essential for doing this.
In parallel with this survey, the government will establish a panel of experts and consider policies for preserving the land on these outlying islands.
National security a top priority
Following a string of cases in which capital from China and elsewhere was used to purchase forests including river headwaters, the Forest Law was revised to impose a requirement that all forest acquisitions be registered.
Regulations in land transactions should be restricted in principle, including those involving foreign capital, but countermeasures will be necessary in cases where it can be assumed the transaction might have an impact on national security.
Until now, the government has taken steps such as conferring names on remote border islands, printing them on marine charts and nationalizing some islands. Continuous efforts will be needed in this regard.
One year has passed since the special measures law for preserving inhabited remote island areas, which was intended to reinvigorate these islands, came into force. The law provided economic assistance, such as by reducing transport costs and lowering fares on sea and air routes for island residents. However, it has not stopped populations on these islands from falling.
Once an island becomes uninhabited, maintaining its function as a base for maritime security and fishing operations will become difficult. The government should steadily promote job creation and tourism industries that harness the charms of these islands.
The Basic Plan on Ocean Policy also incorporated a call to strengthen the nation's "maritime domain awareness," in which relevant organizations share ocean-related information. In addition to data collected by the Japan Coast Guard, Defense Ministry, Fisheries Agency and other bodies, the government will collate satellite information and create a system that can be shared by the public and private sectors.
It will be important that this system leads to the quick detection of suspicious ships, as well as a swift response to collisions at sea and natural disasters.
The nation must solidify its cooperative relationship with the United States and enhance its maritime surveillance capabilities.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 27, 2018)
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