Japan Beefs Up

Japan sends a message that it will not allow China to be the sole regional military power. China takes note:

Japan has mapped out a plan to defend a chain of its southernmost islands in the East China Sea amid alleged rising security concerns, a press report says.

The plan calls for the dispatch of 55,000 troops as well as warplanes, destroyers and submarines from Japan's main islands, Kyodo news agency reported.

Japan's national defense agency compiled the plan covering the islands lying in a 1,000-kilometer (625-mile) zone between the southern tip of Japan's Kyushu Island and Chinese Taiwan, Kyodo said, citing unspecified official documents.

In November Japan made public its new defense guidelines which explicitly point to China as a potential threat for the first time.

[...]

Meanwhile, Japan has been pushing for a missile defense shield with the United States.

It's not just the southern Islands per se; Japan is practicing the "broken windows" theory of international relations here.