Japan’s defense budget will post the biggest drop in more than half a century next year but Tokyo will make new investments in equipment to help defend remote islands, the defense ministry said on Friday.

The focus on defense of remote islands comes as Japan’s ties with neighboring China and South Korea have deteriorated sharply over competing sovereignty claims for tiny islets in the seas between them.

The ministry said it requested 4.57 trillion yen ($58 billion) in budget appropriations for the year starting next April 1, down 1.7 percent from the current year.

That would mark the 11th consecutive year of decline in the defense budget and the largest percentage drop in 58 years.

The fall will be significant next year due mainly to across-the-board pay cuts for government workers, a measure aimed at helping finance reconstruction following last year’s earthquake and tsunami.

But the ministry plans to earmark 2.5 billion yen in next year’s budget to buy its first four armored amphibious vehicles, which could be used to counter threats against remote islands.

“In Japan’s southwest, for example, there are many small islands. It is just not feasible to deploy troops to each island,” a ministry official said.

“If some enemy force makes a landing, what can we do? It is necessary to obtain a capability that enables us to take action against such enemy threats.”

In a sweeping update of its national defense policies two years ago, Japan decided to bolster its defense posture in its southwest, where it shares a maritime border with China.