The Japanese government has announced plans to upgrade 16 ports and airports across the country to enable them to act as emergency centres in an increasingly uncertain security environment.
The list includes Kitakyushu airport in southwest Japan and Naha airport in Okinawa, as well as the ports of Kushiro in Hokkaido and Ishigaki in Okinawa, about 230 kilometres east of Taiwan.
It was noted that the selected facilities will be equipped with longer runways or additional docks. In the event of an emergency, the Japan Self-Defence Forces and the Japan Coast Guard will be able to use these facilities as staging areas for personnel and supplies, or to evacuate residents.
The expanded facilities could also be used to support local tourism and disaster relief efforts.
The Japanese government outlined plans to upgrade airports and ports in its National Security Strategy published in 2022. As of August 2023, around 30 facilities were under evaluation. This number has been reduced to 16 sites that have received local approval.
The five designated airports are located in four prefectures – Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Miyazaki – and Okinawa, where the majority of US military installations in Japan are located.
Of these 16 sites, only Naha airport and Ishigaki port are close to the Taiwan Strait, a potential flashpoint in East Asia.
Could be made available to US military in case of crisis
Military observers say the move is necessary because such infrastructure is currently lacking in the region, but the expansion will involve “several doublings” of existing facilities and consultations with local residents.
They also point out that such facilities could be made available to the US military in the event of a security crisis.
“Japan argues that these facilities would be important in the event of a natural disaster in the region and would benefit the islanders, but neither Japan nor the US has mentioned that US personnel would use them,” said Garren Mulloy, a professor of international relations at Daito Bunka University and an expert on military affairs.
“This may be as much to avoid provoking China as it is to avoid a backlash from the local population,” Mulloy told This Week in Asia.
Japan’s national broadcaster NHK earlier said, citing unnamed government sources, that five airports and 11 ports had been identified for major upgrades amid growing concerns over “China’s pressure on Taiwan and Beijing’s continued claim to the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea”.
“Japan needs to increase the presence and capabilities of the Self-Defence Forces in southwest Japan to deal with possible situations involving Taiwan and other regions,” said Masafumi Iida, a leading China analyst at the National Institute for Defence Studies in Tokyo.
“There is currently a shortage of the necessary military infrastructure, and the plan is to use existing infrastructure and make it a dual-use civil-military facility,” Iida told This Week in Asia.
Neither Japan nor the US would comment on whether American forces would be given access to new air and naval facilities.
Garren Mulloy said it was a decision to be made during a regional security crisis: “The reality is that US and Japanese forces are closely linked, and when the SDF operates in this region, the US 7th Fleet will be with them.”
The Japanese government has reportedly allocated 35 billion yen ($231 million) for the first phase of the expansion plan, with more funds expected to follow.
