Japan says China subs, warships came near Okinawa

Two Chinese submarines and several warships were spotted in international waters off Japan's southern island of Okinawa at the weekend, and Tokyo is investigating what the military vessels were doing there, the defense minister said Tuesday.

Encounters between China's growing military and the Japanese navy have increased in the waters between the two countries in recent years. The two governments both lay claim to valuable undersea gas deposits in the region, which they have agreed to jointly develop.

Okinawan islands also have dozens of U.S. military bases. More than half of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan under a security pact are hosted on the islands.

"We are now conducting a detailed analysis, and will decide on our response after a thorough investigation, including whether there was any intent toward this country or not," Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said of the presence of the Chinese vessels.

A ministry spokeswoman said there have been at least three cases of groups of Chinese military ships crossing through the area since November 2008. She asked to remain anonymous, citing department policy.

The latest case appeared to be the first involving surfaced submarines. The group of 10 ships, including the submarines, was observed about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Okinawa in international waters Saturday.

You might add that the same proportion (or more) would probably welcome the departure of the mainland Japan government as well. Then they could go back to being the independent nation they were prior to the invasion and occupation by the Satsuma Clan (late 16th century) and the islands garrisoning by the Meiji government in the late 19th century.

However, a study of the map and some knowledge of winter sea icing conditions in the northwestern Pacific makes it pretty clear that the islands of Okinawa control all the ice-free sea lanes between the coasts of northern China, the Koreas, and Siberian Russia. Their territory is simply too strategically important to be left unsecured. If the mainland Japanese forces were not there, the Chinese would be busy engineering a domestic crisis so that they could come in and "assist" them... forever.

U.S naval forces (surface and subsurface) would pass through and operate in these areas while executing operations in support of the Taiwanese (assuming, of course, that ~~Barry Soetero~~, err...President Obama actually honored our treaty obligations). The PLAN is simply preparing a future battlefield by conducting hydrographic reconnaissance and training to support submarine and antisubmarine operations in the event of the Chinese taking the decision to "reintegrate" the breakaway province of Taiwan into the glorious People's Republic.

The combination of 8 destroyers and 2 submarines is perfect to conduct many-on-one and many-on-many offensive and defensive training.

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