TOKYO, July 21 (Reuters) – Japan said on Tuesday it had lodged a protest with China about live-fire drills it says were conducted in its exclusive economic zone, an incident that could further strain relations between Asia’s top two economies.
The drills, which also involved Russian vessels, were held some 180 km (110 miles) southwest of what Tokyo calls Okinotori Island early on Sunday, Japan’s military said in a statement.
China argues that the remote Okinotori is a rock rather than an island and therefore Japan is not entitled to claim the waters surrounding it as its EEZ. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The Japanese government lodged a protest with China through diplomatic channels, on the grounds that such activities could pose a danger to the navigation of nearby vessels,” Japan’s top government spokesperson Minoru Kihara told reporters on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Japan’s military said it was the first time Tokyo had publicly disclosed China’s live-fire drills in its EEZ, while adding that the activity was not against international rules.
Beijing and Tokyo have been at loggerheads since comments late last year by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, the democratic island claimed by China, triggered fierce criticism and economic countermeasures from China.
China and Russia, meanwhile, have stepped up joint naval and air operations around Japan, prompting Tokyo to increase surveillance and strengthen its defences in the southwest island chain amid concerns over regional security.
Japanese forces said they spotted four vessels — a Chinese Renhai-class guided-missile destroyer, a Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer, a Fuchi-class replenishment ship and a Russian Steregushchiy-class frigate — sailing towards their EEZ shortly before one of the Chinese destroyers conducted the live-fire exercise.
Nearby vessels were informed by radio immediately before the exercise that live-firing would be conducted, Kihara said.
In a high-profile incident in December, Japan said that Chinese fighter jets aimed their radar at Japanese military aircraft near its Okinawa islands, an account Beijing disputed.
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Nobuhiro Kubo, Hina Suzuki and John Geddie; Editing by Stephen Coates and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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