The incident that occurred on Sunday was the first time the Japanese Ministry of Defense noticed and publicly announced China’s live-fire exercises in the country’s IEZ, Japanese media report.
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Tokyo considers these exercises a “step by both countries’ militaries to strengthen mutual cooperation,” said Japan’s chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara at a press conference on Tuesday.
Relations between Japan and China worsened after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments about Taiwan in November sparked Beijing’s outrage.
On Sunday, China’s naval “Luyang III” class missile destroyer conducted exercises together with a Russian military ship 180 km southwest of Japan’s southernmost territory – Okinotori Island, officials reported.
The fleet, consisting of three Chinese ships and a Russian naval frigate, was first spotted around 2 a.m. local time (8 p.m. Lithuanian time on Saturday), 330 km southwest of the island, heading northeast.
According to M. Kihara, Japan informed Beijing through diplomatic channels that these exercises “could have posed a danger to the navigation of nearby vessels.”
Last month, Chinese and Russian air forces flew bombers together over waters around Japan, and this month their naval fleets also held joint exercises.
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The latest live-fire exercises prompted Tokyo to concentrate air and naval forces to monitor and control the situation, said M. Kihara.
“We will continue to watch with concern the actions of Chinese and Russian ships in the waters around our country,” he added.
This month, Japanese and Chinese coast guard ships clashed near disputed islands, with both sides claiming to have pushed each other’s vessels out of their territorial waters.
The incident occurred near uninhabited islands called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China. These islands lie between Taiwan and Okinawa and have caused diplomatic tension for decades.
S. Takaichi stated in November that Tokyo could take military action in the event of any attack on self-governing Taiwan, which provoked Beijing’s anger.
Under S. Takaichi’s leadership, Japan has also accelerated the shift toward a more active defense policy and, urged by the US, continues to move away from the pacifist course applied since the end of World War II.
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