[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] On the 11th, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force announced that it conducted search and rescue training with two U.S. Air Force special operations aircraft north of Miyakojima and Ishigakijima in Okinawa Prefecture. The training area is the Senkaku Islands, where China and Japan have a territorial dispute, and it is observed that the training assumes the possibility of troop deployment in the Senkaku Islands.
On the same day, Japan's Ministry of Defense also announced that Yamazaki Koji, the Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff of the Self-Defense Forces, equivalent to South Korea's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and John Aquilino, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, inspected the ground Self-Defense Force garrison on Yonaguni Island, Japan's westernmost island, on the 8th and 9th.
Kyodo News analyzed, "It is unusual for the Self-Defense Forces to announce such training details," and added, "It appears to be aimed at strongly deterring China, which claims sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, through joint training and high-level inspections."
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