Gov't plans to cut quota for GSDF to 154,000 members

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TOKYO, Dec. 12 Kyodo -
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda agreed
Sunday on a plan to reduce the quota for the Ground Self-Defense Force to
154,000 members from the current 155,000, government sources said.
The new figure will be included in the appendix of Japan's new defense program
outline to be approved by the Cabinet by the end of December, the sources said.
Kitazawa and Noda also agreed that, of the total, the number of regular GSDF
members will be 147,000, down 1,000 from the current level, and that the number
of reserves will remain at 7,000 members, the sources said.
The government is set to place more emphasis on the defense of Japan's
southwestern islands, increasing the ground troops stationed in the Nansei
Islands, a chain of islands stretching from southern Kagoshima Prefecture to
Okinawa Prefecture near Taiwan, by up to 2,000 members with the aim of doubling
troop strength in the region.
The move is expected to lead to reduced troop levels in the northernmost
prefecture of Hokkaido.
The government already plans to state in the new defense program outline that
it will reinforce the presence of the Air Self-Defense Force and the Maritime
Self-Defense Force in the Nansei Islands.
With the anticipated participation of more GSDF troops in the area, Japan hopes
to keep tabs on China, which has continued to increase naval activities in
waters surrounding Japan, the sources said.
Japan is considering placing troops to the west of Miyako Island in Okinawa
Prefecture, an area the Defense Ministry describes as a ''defense vacuum'' as
no SDF units are permanently deployed there, they said.
Candidate sites for the deployment are Ishigaki Island, which administers the
uninhabited Senkaku Islands claimed by China, and Yonaguni Island, which is
close to Taiwan, they said.
The government will reduce troops in Hokkaido, where the units had been
organized to deal with the possible invasion of Soviet troops during the Cold
War, as a senior Defense Ministry official said it is difficult to think there
is currently a possibility of such invasion occurring.
The quota for GSDF members was 160,000 in the defense program outline compiled
in 1996, comprising 145,000 regular members and 15,000 reserves. In the current
outline compiled in 2004, the quota is 155,000, comprising 148,000 regular
members and 7,000 reserves.
The Ground Staff Office initially requested a quota for 168,000 personnel under
the new outline, but the figure has been adjusted downward due to calls from
within the government and ruling parties for a smaller figure.
==Kyodo
2010-12-12 22:03:28