Japan's defence minister on Friday warned Tokyo could send troops to a chain of East China Sea islands at the centre of a territorial row with China if the simmering dispute escalated.
Satoshi Morimoto said Tokyo's position had not changed, but confirmed that it would use force to defend the islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.
The islands are northeast of Taiwan.
It's getting crowded out there. Our Marines could be kept busy.
