TOKYO -- Japan plans to develop portable harbors that would let the Self-Defense Forces deploy quickly on the country's islands in the East China Sea.
The Defense Ministry envisions having the temporary harbors ready within a few years to help Japan defend the Nansei Islands if an armed conflict breaks out in Taiwan or elsewhere. The Nansei chain stretches from the southwestern main island of Kyushu to near Taiwan, and many of these isles lack large ports.
