Japan mulls troops near Taiwan

Japan is considering stationing troops on a tiny island near Taiwan and the Diaoyu Islands, a news report said Wednesday.

Beijing and Tokyo have been embroiled for over three weeks in their worst diplomatic spat in years, triggered by Japan's illegal detention of a Chinese trawler skipper after a tense maritime incident near the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Amid the heightened tensions, Japan's Ministry of Defense (MOD) has asked for a budget to study a plan to station ground troops on the remote Yonaguni island of Okinawa Prefecture, which lies 110 kilometers east of Taiwan and 170 kilometers east of the Diaoyu Islands.

The only Japanese troops permanently stationed in the far south are on the region's main island of Okinawa, also the main base for US troops in Japan.

According to media reports, under the ruling of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), officials from the MOD had already proposed plans for the deployment of troops on Yonaguni and other islands in the area.

After defeating the LDP in the general elections in August 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) shied away from the issue, in a bid to improve relations with China.

Liu Jiangyong, vice director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University, told chinanews. com.cn that a deployment of Japanese troops on Yonaguni would definitely bring instability to the region.

"Tokyo and Washington are also considering moving the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the Shimoji-jima Island, which is about 330 kilometers east of Taiwan," Liu said. "A military presence on these two islands would pose a serious threat to the Taiwan Straits, let alone the Diaoyu Islands. Beijing won't take this threat lightly."

By press time, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not available to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, a Japanese man was arrested for hurling a flare at the Chinese Consulate General in Fukuoka City on Tuesday night, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Chinese Tongwen School in the city of Kobe was also attacked that day, and its windows were smashed.

Despite confrontations, there are some signs that tensions are easing between the two sides.

TV Asahi reported that lower house lawmaker Goshi Hosono, former deputy secretary general of the DPJ, arrived in Beijing Wednesday afternoon with a personal letter from Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

Citing Japanese traders, AFP also reported that Chinese Customs officials had resumed procedures to export rare earth minerals to Japan.

AFP, Yu Miao and Jia Cheng contributed to this story