The government is sending 100 Ground Self-Defense Force members and radar to its western-most outpost, a tropical island off Taiwan, in a deployment that risks angering China with ties between Asia's biggest economies already hurt by a dispute over nearby islets they both claim.
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera will break ground Saturday for a military lookout station on the Okinawa island of Yonaguni, which is home to 1,500 people and just 150 km from the disputed Japanese-held Senkaku Islands claimed by China.
The mini-militarization of Yonaguni — now defended by two police officers — is part of a long-standing plan to improve defense and surveillance in Japan's far-flung frontier.