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Japan may soon deploy a long-range radar system in the Western Pacific to monitor increased activity in the area by the Chinese military, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported this week.

The proposed deployment, being considered by the Japanese Ministry of defense, would be on the Osagawara island chain, which is on the second island chain nearly 1,000 kilometers South of Tokyo.

Japanese interest in the Western Pacific has intensified in recent years when the people’s liberation army (PLAAF) AIR force and the people’s liberation army (PLAN) Navy began conducting regular exercises and patrols past the first island chain of these waters.

Beginning in late 2015, both PLAN and PLAAF began regularly crossing Japan’s exclusive economic zone in international waters and airspace to enter the Western Pacific. Chinese warplanes and warships used the Miyako Strait, which connects the East China sea to the Western Pacific, as a transit point.

In December 2016, a Chinese carrier strike group entered the Western Pacific for the first time.

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For the Chinese military, access and operations in the Western Pacific will be critical to support combat missions in the East China sea, the South China sea and the Weiss Strait. In addition, in a conflict, China would seek to strip its coastal areas of its U.S. and Japanese forces; maintaining a presence in the Western Pacific would also support that goal.

Japan has gradually expanded its Maritime and reconnaissance, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities along its remote Islands.

In March 2016, the Japanese Land self-defense forces established a radar Outpost on Ionaguni island, which is near the southernmost tip of the Ryukyu chain, just over 100 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan.

While Japan has significant rights to exploit resources in its large exclusive economic zone in the Western Pacific, its IPR capabilities in the area are more limited.

It is reported that the Japanese Ministry of defense is studying facilities on Ogasawara island to install a new long-range radar system. Once the feasibility of such a site is determined, the Japanese government will likely seek funding in its 2019 defense bill.

The Japanese Maritime self-defense force (MSDF) conducts exercises and patrols in the Western Pacific.

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In March 2017, the MDF destroyer JS Ise joined the USS Carl Vinson strike group in the Western Pacific for bilateral exercises.

Ankit Panda is senior editor of the Diplomat and Director of research at diplomat Risk Intelligence. Follow him on Twitter.