China has notched another gain in its inadvertent campaign to expand defense cooperation among its nervous neighbors. In a Journal interview published Thursday, Japan’s top military commander said Japanese forces may join U.S. troops in patrolling the South China Sea, where China has been aggressively staking territorial claims around crucial international waterways.
“The area is of the utmost importance for Japanese security,” said Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano. “Because there is a lack of transparency, we are very concerned about China’s actions.”
China in recent months has built some 2,000 acres of artificial land atop reefs and shoals in the South China Sea’s disputed Spratly island chain. Beijing insists the artificial islands are mainly for weather monitoring and other peaceful purposes, but it has placed artillery on at least one site and built runways that could host the full range of Chinese military aircraft.
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