Japan has announced it will spend more than a hundred million dollars rebuilding structures on a distant atoll whose total land mass is less than a hundred square feet, reports the South China Morning Post.
The atoll, Okinotorishima, sits in the Philippine Sea about a thousand miles south of Tokyo. Despite its diminutive size, Okinotorishima, which comprises a natural reef and several small man-made embankments, extends Japan’s economic zone far into the Pacific Ocean.
The country will now spend the equivalent of $107.5 million building a deepwater pier and a lighthouse at the atoll. A road will also be erected spanning the natural reef.
Japan’s announcement is the latest in a string of Asian maritime territorial claims that have heightened tensions in the region. China, which has aggravated its smaller neighbors by building a series of artificial structures in the South China Sea, has in the past criticized Japan’s assertions over Okinotorishima.
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