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On December 18, 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting of the Ministerial Council on the Strengthening of the Maritime Security System, at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, there was discussion on the current state of the initiatives to strengthen the maritime security system.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“We have been strategically advancing efforts for enhancing and strengthening the maritime security system since last year in order to thoroughly protect the peaceful and bountiful seas of our country.

The maritime security environment continues to be severe. We cannot let our guard down for even a moment. Members of the Japan Coast Guard across the country continue to risk their lives while fulfilling their duties under the spirit of justice and benevolence. In particular, those assigned to full-time patrols of the Senkaku Islands are working extremely hard day and night. In the Sea of Japan as well, the movements of North Korea are unpredictable. Wooden ships thought to be from North Korea continue to drift ashore in Japan.

In order to continue to further strengthen the maritime security system in a structured way, as part of the initial budget for FY2018 and while also using the FY2017 supplementary budget, we will advance efforts to secure large-scale patrol vessels equipped with helicopters for responses in the territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, new jets for maritime surveillance, large-scale research vessels for maritime surveys, and the necessary personnel for conducting such work, as well as efforts to enhance education and training facilities.

At the same time, we must share our values about the free and open maritime order based on the rule of law with relevant countries in order to realize the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy that we are promoting.

In September of this year, Japan invited the heads of the world’s coast guard agencies to exchange views on maritime security together in Tokyo. In October, we established the Japan Coast Guard Mobile Cooperation Team to support capacity building in maritime law enforcement among Southeast Asian countries. We will promote such international cooperation even further in the future.

We will thoroughly protect the peaceful and bountiful seas of Japan. To that end, I would like the relevant ministries and agencies to join forces to strengthen maritime security systems. The Government will exert every effort to ensure maritime security in coordination with other countries.”