CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa --- Tokyo officially opens a new Japan Ground Self-Defense Force base with missile units this week on Ishigaki in the nation’s southern island chain.
Camp Ishigaki will begin operations on Thursday, with an opening ceremony April 2, a spokesman from the Okinawa Defense Bureau told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday. The bureau represents Japan’s Defense Ministry in the region.
The official launch date was first announced March 7 by ministry spokesman Takeshi Aoki, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that day.
“The gap of the Japan Self-Defense Forces in the Nansei region will be solved,” Aoki said of the new base during a press conference at the ministry offices in Tokyo, according to the NHK report. “This shows the will of our country to not allow changes in the status quo by force.”
The Nansei Islands stretch from Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands, to within 70 miles of Taiwan. Ishigaki is about 150 miles east of Taiwan.
Aoki said the new facility will enhance Japan’s “deterrence power” in the southern island chain and lead to the “security of our nation.”
The base is scheduled to receive long-range missiles on Saturday and Sunday, Okinawa Times newspaper reported March 8, citing unnamed sources. (.../...)
Approximately 570 personnel from security, surface-to-air and surface-to-ship guided-missile units will be stationed at the base, according to the ministry website. The missile units will be moved south from Ground Self-Defense Force camps in Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures.
They will be armed with Type-12 surface-to-ship guided missiles and Type-03 surface-to-air guided missiles, the ministry said. Type-12 missiles will be stored in the ammunition facilities on the base, Aoki said Friday, according to a separate NHK report. (end of excerpt)
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