Japan will deploy the F-35B stealth fighter aircraft for the first time from 2024, a decision strongly influenced by the perceived threat posed by China's military to Japanese territory in the East China Sea. Local media reports said that the airfield is some 1,030km northeast of the disputed Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku Islands) that are claimed by China but controlled by Japan, reported South China Morning Post (SCMP). F-35B jets would be based at the Air Self-Defence Force's Nyutabaru Air Base in southern Miyazaki Prefecture, sources told the Yomiuri newspaper. Julian Ryall and Kyodo, in an article in SCMP, said that the Chinese coastguard has in recent years increased its activity near the Diaoyus, raising alarm in Tokyo, which brought the islands under state control in 2012.