East China Sea Tensions: Japan To Send Troops To Contested Senkaku Islands?
KEY POINTS
Japan has allowed its Coast Guard to fire at foreign vessels approaching the islands
Beijing defended its new coast guard law saying it does not target any country
Japan is considering sending armed forces to protect the Senkaku Islands, an uninhabited chain of islands in the East China Sea where the Chinese have stepped up their activity, South China Morning Post reported, citing a Japanese official.
While Japan has administrative rights over Senkaku, China has been reasserting its rights over the islands which they call Diaoyu. Though uninhabited, the islands have great economic and strategic value.
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Miyagi Prefecture also continued to experience water supply issues, with about 5,000 households there experiencing supply cuts.
Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi had earlier directed the Self-Defense Forces to gather information on the scope of the damage and be prepared to respond immediately. The Meteorological Agency is urging caution due to the potential for landslides, as a storm warning has been issued for much of the Kanto and Tohoku regions for Monday.
The earthquake registered a strong 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale to 7 in parts of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.
It also jolted Tokyo, where it registered a 4 on the Japanese scale, and was the strongest to hit the region since April 7, 2011, the Meteorology Agency said. The epicenter was off the coast of Fukushima, about 220 kilometers (135 miles) north of the capital. Its focus was estimated to be at a depth of about 55 kilometers.