Chinas military is building large-scale base facilities on islands near the Senkaku Islands, several Chinese sources said Sunday.

Construction is underway in the Nanji Islands in Zhejiang Province, lying about 300 km to the northwest of the Japanese-administered, uninhabited Senkakus in the East China Sea. China calls the islands Diaoyu.

The base is expected to enhance Chinas readiness to respond to potential military crises in the region as well as to strengthen surveillance over the air defense identification zone it declared over part of the East China Sea in November last year, the sources said.

According to the sources, several large radar installations have been built at high points on the main Nanji Island. Several landing strips have been paved, likely for use by aircraft based on warships or patrol vessels, and more landing strips are set to be built on an island adjacent to Nanji Island from around next year.

As the archipelago of 52 islands and islets is located about 100 km closer to the Senkakus than Okinawas main island, home to bases of the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military, the new base is likely to shake up Japan-U.S. security strategies relating to the Senkakus defense.

The continued expansion of Chinas interests in the East China Sea comes after Japan-China relations, tainted by territorial and wartime historical issues, were somewhat thawed by a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in November.

Military expansion may necessitate the relocation of the roughly 2,500 civilians who live in the archipelago, most engaged in fishing, as well as the restriction of tourism at the summer vacation spot.

UNESCO listed 15 of the islands as a biosphere reserve in 1998, reflecting the diversity of the archipelagos marine life.

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China sources say military building facilities on islands near Senkakus