Japan to Build New Hi-Tech Fleet as East China Sea Conflict Heats Up
SputnikNews.com
17.02.2017
Japan has announced the acceleration of a warship-building program, hoping to construct two additional frigates each year to better enforce their claim on the East China Sea. Japan has been embroiled in a land dispute with China and Taiwan over several islands in the East China Sea since the 1970s.
Three anonymous sources with knowledge of Japan’s navy say that Tokyo’s Self Defense Forces will construct two 3,000-ton frigates as well as one 5,000-ton destroyer in the 2018 fiscal year. Japan intends to create a small but highly modern fleet of eight vessels that may also be used for minesweeping and submarine hunting.
Naval shipyards are expected to bid for the contracts to build the eight frigates. Each ship will cost 40-50 billion yen ($353-$443 million) for a total outlay of over $3 billion.
The announcement of the contract comes in the wake of a renewal of territorial squabbles between the East Asian sea powers. Japanese officials have publicly stated that they are concerned about China pressing its claim in the East China Sea, just as Beijing has done to the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea.
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