Japan is investing 100 million piece of stone

TOKYO (Reuters)- It's no more than a block of 4.5 by 1.7 kilometers and human life is impossible. Yet Japan is investing converted to 100 million euros in the atoll located in the Pacific Ocean, 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo. Okinotorishima is organized as a strategic observation post in connection with the growing Chinese activity in the area.

More and more islands in the ocean claimed by more and more countries. The striking thing about Okinotorishima is precisely that China there are nose to pick up and sees the atoll as a piece of stone without value. Japan does not and has decided that it is Japanese and, as the Guardian Wednesday, is to invest in a lot. The islet is located in an area including many shipping, rich fishing grounds and probably a lot of oil beneath the ocean surface.

The Japanese government believes that the rock is also important militarily. Located between Taiwan and the US island of Guam oversees literally a stretch of sea where increasingly diverse navies operate.