China Makes Live-fire Drill in Japan’s EEZ

Minister of Defense, Shinjiro Koizumi, announced that Chinese destroyer made live-fire drills in Japan’s economic exclusive zone (EEZ) around Okinotorishima Island in the Pacific Ocean. While Japan revealed that China and Russia were enhancing their military cooperation, China argued that Okinontorishima was not an island but a rock. After Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took seat last October, security tension between Japan and China has been getting high.


Koizumi introduced the information during his visit to London for observing an air show on July 21st. “We confirmed the exercise of shooting with machinegun and made a proposal to China through a diplomatic route, concerning possible danger for vessels in the area,” said Koizumi in his press conference.

 

According to the information, Japan Maritime Self-defense Force confirmed two Chinese destroyers with missiles, one Chinese supply ship and one frigate of Russian Navy at the point of 330 kilometers southwest of Okinotorishima Island and the exercise of shooting was made by Chinese destroyer at 180 kilometers southwest of the island, where is in Japan’s EEZ. Okinotorishima is a small coral island, known as the southernmost island of Japan.

 

Shooting exercise within foreign country’s EEZ is not prohibited by international law. The government of Japan intended to emphasize military cooperation between China and Russia by disclosing the information on them. It is supposed that China wanted to assert that the island is not an island but rocks. “Okinotori is a rock rather than an island,” saidspokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, “China’s activities in the high seas are fully consistent with international law.” Lin also accused Japan of accelerating remilitarization.

 

In the major military drill around Taiwan in 2022, China launched five missiles to Japan’s EEZ. Chinese aircraft carriers passed Japan’s EEZ in 2025. China designated some area in Japan’s EEZ as the place where space debris could be falling, when it launched submarine-launched ballistic missiles. China has been accumulating examples of activities in Japan’s EEZ.

 

Japan is responding China’s advance with countermeasures. Japan, with the United Kingdom and Italy, made a decision of including Canada in Global Combat Air Programme in London. Referring to France’s enhancement of nuclear capability, Koizumi indicated possibility of discussion on Japan’s possession of nuclear weapons. “Any country can no longer establish its own security without taboo in discussion,” said Koizumi in his speech in Belgium.

 

Since Takaichi touched on possibility of Japan to use force in Taiwan contingency last November, the relations between Japan and China have been deteriorating. As China accuses Japan’s remilitarization, Japan is building a group for blocking China’s advance with its diplomatic concept called Free and Open Indo-Pacific. As Russia is involved in war in Ukraine and the United States in Iran, arms race in Asia-Pacific region seems to be accelerated.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LDP Kickoffs Presidential Election

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)   kicked off  its presidential election campaign on September 22 and five lawmakers officially submitted their candidacy to the party. Having lost majority in both Houses of the Diet under the leadership of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the presidential election should be about how to regain power through reform of the party. Nevertheless, the candidates do not talk much about the reform, rather focusing on economic policies for the people or maneuvers to attract the opposition parties.   Those five candidates are former Minister on Economic Security Takayuki Kobayashi, former LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Minister on Economic Security Sanae Takaichi and Miniser of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Shinjiro Koizumi.   Kobayashi insists on temporary income tax cut with a fixed rate, which return is bigger for high-income taxpayers than them with low-income. Identifying h...
Read more

Defense Ministers Meet in Seoul

Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani visited Republic of Korea and had a meeting with ROK Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-back. It was the first time for Japanese defense minister to have a bilateral ministerial meeting in these ten years. Both ministers reconfirmed importance of trilateral security cooperation including the United States to deal with another trilateral cooperation by China, Russia and North Korea.   In the  press conference  after the meeting, Nakatani stressed importance of maintaining bilateral relationship between Japan and ROK, or Japan-ROK-U.S. relationship in a volatile security environment. Both ministers agreed on promoting discussion by both defense authorities and exchange of personnel. They also agreed on further cooperation in cutting edge technologies including artificial intelligence, unmanned system or the space. They will maintain joint exercise called “Freedom Edge,” in which multiple countries participate.   Their bilateral relati...
Read more

Contaminated Soil to Prime Minister’s Residence

Shigeru Ishiba Cabinet discussed how the radioactively contaminated soil in Fukushima prefecture would be treated and decided some of it should be used in Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Tokyo. Although the soil needs to be removed from Fukushima with legal requirement, the government of Japan has not found anywhere it should go. Ishiba administration hopes that the decision will pave the way for any local community to accept the soil.   Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant emitted a huge amount of radiation into the air, which contaminated the land surface around the site, in the severe accident in East Japan Great Earthquake in 2011. The contaminated soil in Fukushima prefecture was stocked in the intermediate stockyard built in the towns of Futaba and Okuma, where the power plant is located. The government promised the people in Fukushima to remove the soil out of Fukushima prefecture within thirty years, when it decided to build the stockyard in 2014.   The total a...
Read more