Japan Raises China Live-fire Concerns  07/21 06:40

   

   TOKYO (AP) -- Japan expressed concern after a Chinese navy destroyer 
conducted live-fire drills off a remote Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean on 
Sunday during its joint exercise with Russia, officials said Tuesday.

   The Chinese Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer conducted a live-fire 
exercise off Japan's southernmost island of Okinotori, hours after the Japanese 
navy spotted it operating alongside two other Chinese warships and a Russian 
frigate, the Japanese Joint Staff said.

   Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Tuesday that his 
government conveyed concerns that the live-fire drills posed a potential safety 
threat to nearby vessels. He noted that ships near the area received a notice 
from the Chinese warships just before the drills started.

   "We will continue to watch China-Russia operations around Japan with 
concern, while doing utmost for the warning and surveillance of the Japanese 
airspace and territorial waters," Kihara said.

   Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, in a speech Monday in Britain, 
said the action underscored "the deepening military cooperation between China 
and Russia," as he also noted China's ballistic missile launch from a submarine 
earlier this month, and at least 10 joint flights conducted by Chinese and 
Russian bombers around Japan.

   Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian accused Japan of playing up 
external threats to justify its military buildup. "Japan's so-called concern is 
actually groundless, and China has firmly refuted it," he said at a regular 
briefing in Beijing.

   Japan has been alarmed by China's rapid expansion of operations in the 
Pacific, especially since two Chinese aircraft carriers were spotted last year 
almost simultaneously operating near another southern Japanese island, Iwo 
Jima, for the first time, fueling Tokyo's concern about Beijing's military 
activity far beyond its borders.

   Former Vice-Defense Minister Masahisa Sato said he considers Sunday's 
live-fire drills as an early stage of China's so-called "salami-slicing 
strategy" of taking incremental steps to keep expanding its control without 
triggering border conflicts. China may intensify provocation by aircraft 
carriers around Okinotori, Sato commented on X, stressing the need to reinforce 
the Pacific theater defense.

   Japan is also deeply concerned about growing joint military operations by 
China and Russia around Japan in recent years.

   Sunday's live-fire drills by the Chinese destroyer were conducted 180 
kilometers (110 miles) southwest of the island and within Japan's Exclusive 
Economic Zone, an area beyond its immediate territorial waters where the 
country has rights over natural resources.

   Lin disputed Japan's claim to an EEZ around Okinotori, saying it is a rock 
not an island. "Japan's claim to an EEZ based on Okinotori-shima violates 
international law," he said. The word "shima" means island in Japanese.

   China has said previously that it wrapped up joint naval exercises with 
Russia on July 13 and that some of the participating ships were conducting 
joint patrols in the Pacific. It wasn't clear why patrols would include live 
firing, as claimed by Japan.

   The live-fire exercises were held off the port city of Qingdao on China's 
east coast, the country's official Xinhua News Agency said. The area is far 
from the uninhabited Okinotori, which sits in the Philippine Sea.

   China-Russia military cooperation plays an important role in safeguarding 
the two nations' sovereignty and security and upholding international and 
regional peace and stability, China's Defense Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin 
said in remarks posted online late last week.

   "We hope that relevant parties can view China-Russia military cooperation 
objectively and rationally, and stop making groundless speculation and cease 
smearing and hyping," he said.

   Japan's Joint Staff said it was the first time it disclosed the detection of 
Chinese live-fire drills in the Japanese EEZ, though the action did not violate 
international law.

   The Joint Staff said the fleet of the same four Chinese and Russian warships 
had earlier sailed southward between the main Japanese islands of Okinawa and 
Miyako.