News China state-owned firm said to have interfered in outpost acquisition

I have always found it intriguing how many islands in Japan are privately owned. The Senkakus come to mind.


A Chinese state-owned enterprise is suspected of offering financial support to a Japanese executive in 2019. This occurred while the Japanese government was negotiating the purchase of Mageshima Island (馬毛島), a strategically important location for Japan's Self-Defense Forces. Tateishi Isao, the representative director of Taston Airport, which owned 99% of Mageshima Island, was invited to Shanghai in September 2019. During this visit, the Chinese company offered potential loans and investments, as revealed by sources and a video recording of Tateishi's remarks. The negotiations between Taston Airport and the Japanese Defense Ministry for the sale of the island had been stalled due to disagreements over the price, and the company was facing financial challenges. Following the Shanghai meeting, a senior official from the Chinese company met with Tateishi in Tokyo. Former Olympics minister Yoshitaka Sakurada was reportedly present during the meeting.

"I was probably (at the meeting)," he said. "I do not remember who invited me, but I should have been more careful. I have no idea who the people on the other side are." Tateishi died in 2021 at the age of 88. The Chinese company did not respond to The Asahi Shimbun's written request for a comment. In November 2019, the government agreed, in principle, to purchase Mageshima from Taston Airport for about 16 billion yen ($103 million). Construction of an SDF base there began in January 2023. Mageshima had been earlier listed as a candidate site for field carrier landing practices for U.S. aircraft in a Japan-U.S. agreement in 2011.

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