TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Japan will increase fuel and ammunition storage facilities on the Nansei Islands in the East China Sea as the country looks to better prepare itself in the event of a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

“To protect Japan, it’s important for us to have not only hardware such as aircraft and ships, but also enough ammunition for them,” Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu told Nikkei on Tuesday (Sept. 6). “We will radically strengthen the defense capabilities we need, including our capacity for sustained and flexible deployment,” Hamada added.

Japan currently houses around 70% of its ammunition in Hokkaido, over 2,000 km away from a possible Taiwan conflict, according to Nikkei. The Japan Ministry of Defense views bolstering capacity on the Nansei chain as adding to greater deterrence, per the report.

Hamada told Nikkei that the first step would be to construct an ammunition depot at a Ground Self-Defense Force camp on Amami Oshima island. The government will also evaluate using the location to store weapons such as standoff missiles, which are meant to be launched from beyond an enemy’s defensive fire range.

The Japanese military has enough ammunition stored to last around two months, with less than 10% of it stored in Kyushu and Okinawa, Nikkei said. Another issue is that the military does not have enough shipping capacity to transport the ammunition to the area in the event of a conflict between Taiwan and China.

The defense minister told Nikkei that Tokyo will consider building port facilities and fuel storage on islands in Okinawa, Kyushu, and elsewhere.

Tokyo is looking to enhance military mobility, in addition to improving logistics for fuel, ammunition, and food amid a greater focus on supporting sustained operations. Having infrastructure in place to send supplies from Kyushu and the main island of Honshu would also help Japan support American forces if they were to respond to a Taiwan conflict, according to the report.