Japan's government is exploring the possibility of making the military share the airport on the island of Shimoji, the Sankei Shimbun said without citing sources.

The government has begun to consider the common use of the airport as it judged the nation "needs to raise the effectiveness of anti-submarine operations" in the wake of the intrusion by the Chinese submarine, it said.

A defence agency spokeswoman said the agency had no specific plan for the common use of the airport on Shimoji at the moment.

Japanese officials said on Tuesday China had apologized for the intrusion of the nuclear submarine, which had been spotted near gas fields in the East China Sea disputed between the Asian powers.

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