Chinese and Russian navy ships were spotted conducting joint live-fire drills within Japan’s claimed exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, its defence ministry said.
Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi first revealed that the two navies had held drills in Japan’s EEZ during an address to the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain on Monday, highlighting their deepening military cooperation, according to media reports.
Japan’s defence ministry later confirmed that two Chinese missile destroyers and a Chinese supply ship had been detected with a Russian frigate about 330km (205 miles) southwest of the remote Okinotori Island, sailing northeastward.
One of the Chinese destroyers was later confirmed to have conducted an exercise about 180km southwest of the island and within Japan’s claimed EEZ while the Russian frigate was nearby, according to the ministry.
It said the Chinese warship’s crew had notified ships in surrounding waters of the location and duration of the drill.
Okinotori is a coral atoll located in the Philippine Sea about 1,740 km south of Tokyo. At high tide it consists of just two tiny rocks above water – insufficient to claim its surrounding waters as part of an EEZ under international law.