China sails into disputed waters, prompting protest by Japan
Defense Minister Onodera added the brigade would continue training with US-built military aircraft, the V-22 Ospreys, which can be used for long-range flights and take off and land like helicopters.
Japan’s naval forces also have ships well-suited to amphibious operations, including its helicopter destroyers, four of which have been commissioned in the past decade.
Those ships, which look a lot like a small aircraft carrier, could be configured to carry stealthy F-35B fighter jets, which can land vertically. They are also platforms that accommodate the V-22.
Despite the activation of the new unit and the hardware supporting it, Japan’s marines are far from being an effective fighting force, according to Grant Newsham, senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies.
Newsham said in a blog post Japan must be able to integrate the marines with its air and naval forces.
“Amphibious operations are complex, effectively three-dimensional as they involve operations afloat, ashore, and in the air,” Newsham wrote on the Japan Forward website. If other branches can’t deliver and protect a landing force, it won’t accomplish its mission, he said.
The Chinese government has repeatedly said it would be prepared to defend the islands claimed by Beijing in the East China Sea if they were taken by force.
On March 31, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang called on Japan to “adopt a correct historical view” after the government approved a series of education textbooks labelling the Senkaku Islands as undisputed Japanese territory.”
China resolutely defends its territorial sovereignty and any attempt to infringe upon China’s sovereignty over Diaoyu Islands will be futile,” Lu said according to Xinhua.
Japan’s military revival
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has long sought to change his country’s pacifist constitution, adopted after the Second World War, to allow Japan to maintain armed forces.
In May 2017, Abe said he wanted to have the constitution altered and a new version in place by 2020. “I strongly wish to make 2020 the year that the reborn Japan will make a new start,” he said at the time.