TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Japanese government intends to buy land on Mageshima in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima to install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system, reported CNA.
CNA reports that Lee Yutong (李雨桐), a scholar at China’s Center for National Strategic Studies, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is expected to reveal this plan in a forthcoming article in a Hong Kong magazine.
Mageshima is a small island without a fixed population, which occupies around 8.2 square kilometers. Japan Times reported on Jan. 9 that the Japanese government plans to buy the island, and that the site could potentially be used for U.S. military training exercises within the next few months.
In his article, Lee suggests that Mageshima will be nationalized to provide a new training base for Japanese and U.S. forces and to strengthen Japan’s security system, according to an advanced copy seen by CNA.
The article goes on to suggest that a THAAD anti-missile system on Mageshima would have the potential to cooperate with other anti-missile systems located across Japan and South Korea.
Lee believes that China-Japan relations are likely to be strained, if THAAD is installed on Mageshima.