Japan to put 280 remote islands under state control

Tokyo: The Japanese government plans to register as state property around 280 remote islands it sees as being within its territorial waters in a bid to strengthen management over them, a senior minister said on Tuesday.
“The Japanese government plans to register the remote islands as part of its state property to enhance their management” Xinhua quoted Minister for Ocean Policy and Territorial Issues Ichita Yamamoto as saying at a press conference.
The islands are among more than 400 remote islands, many of them unnamed by the Japanese government, that are deemed by the administration to define Japan’s territorial waters. Ichita said that nearly 100 of them have already been registered as state property as they form part of what Japan sees as its broader exclusive economic zone, in which Japan conducts marine explorations and other research activities, but conceded that a great deal about the islands was still “unknown”.
Yamamoto added that under Japanese law the 280 ownerless islands are property of the state and the registering them as such will enable the government to effectively manage them. (IANS)