The Defense Ministry may have to abandon a plan to station a Ground Self-Defense Force coastal monitoring unit on Okinawa's Yonaguni Island because negotiations with the town over the price of land have deadlocked.
"If the current situation continues, we have no choice but to revise the whole plan," a ministry official told The Japan Times on Thursday, adding that the deployment of the unit is urgently needed to bolster defenses in the Nansei Islands to counter China's continuing threat to take possession of the Senkaku islets in the East China Sea.
On Thursday, the Sankei Shimbun reported that Ishigaki Island is a strong candidate to replace Yonaguni, which is at the westernmost tip of the chain.
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