Chinese carrier sails between Japanese islands near Taiwan for first time

[Beijingwalker]

Chinese carrier sails between Japanese islands near Taiwan for first time​

China's Liaoning aircraft carrier sails in waters near Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday. | DEFENSE MINISTRY JOINT STAFF OFFICE / VIA AFP-JIJI
BY JESSE JOHNSON

Sep 19, 2024

A Chinese aircraft carrier for the first time passed through a narrow waterway between Yonaguni and Iriomote islands in Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry in Tokyo said, the latest in a spate of moves in the region by Beijing.

According to a map released by the ministry, China’s Liaoning carrier and two other ships accompanying it also entered Japan's so-called contiguous zone — international waters that extend an additional 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) beyond its territorial seas 12 nautical miles from its shores. The waterway itself is only about 65 km — 35 nautical miles — wide.

Under international law, vessels from other countries are allowed to travel in Japan’s contiguous zone, though it can take measures if a ship enters its territorial waters.

"This incident is totally unacceptable from the perspective of the security environment of Japan and the region, and we have expressed our serious concerns to the Chinese side through diplomatic channels," said Deputy Chief Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshi Moriya, a top government spokesman.

Earlier Wednesday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had spotted the same Chinese carrier group sailing in waters off its east coast in the direction of Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost island, which sits about 110 km east of Taiwan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular news conference the same day that the activities "conformed to China's domestic law and international law."

Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military expert, told China's state-run Global Times newspaper that the waters between Yonaguni and Iriomote islands, despite being narrow, "remain a strait used for international navigation, and it is legitimate" for Chinese Navy ships to sail through the strait.

The Global Times quoted Fu as saying that the Wednesday's transit also showed that, in addition to the Miyako Strait, the Chinese Navy has multiple routes for punching further into the Western Pacific.

The move by China’s military, which has ramped up the pace of its exercises in the waters near Japan’s far-flung southwestern islands near Taiwan, came after Tokyo lodged a strong protest with Beijing late last month following a Chinese Navy survey ship’s entry into Japanese territorial waters off Kagoshima Prefecture.

That sailing came just days after the first foray into Japan’s territorial airspace by a Chinese military aircraft, prompting Tokyo to scramble fighter jets.

Defense officials said the Chinese survey ship may have been probing the topography, depth and temperature of the seabed in a bid to help with the operations of their submarines in the area, while the flight could have been intended to test Japan’s response time.

Beijing’s Foreign Ministry played down both earlier events, calling last month’s sailing “legal,” and avoiding questions about its airspace violation and urging Tokyo not to “overinterpret” the moves.

Territorial airspace refers to the skies above a territory and its territorial waters. Flying freely inside the territorial airspace of another country is not permitted under international law and has in the past led to shoot-downs.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, meanwhile, gives vessels — including warships — the right of “innocent passage,” which lets them pass through the territorial waters of other states so long as they do not engage in activities that would endanger the “peace, good order or security” of the coastal state.

In a view widely seen as highlighting fears of conflict over self-ruled Taiwan, Japan said in its defense white paper released in July that the possibility of a “serious situation” akin to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine occurring in East Asia “cannot be ruled out."

China claims Taiwan as a renegade province that must be united with the mainland, by force if necessary, routinely sending warships and warplanes around the island for large-scale military drills that the Defense Ministry in Tokyo says have “demonstrated at least part of Beijing’s invasion strategy.”

A war over Taiwan, likely involving the United States and China, would run the risk of also dragging in Japan thanks to proximity and Tokyo’s alliance with Washington. Japan’s boosted defense budgets have been largely centered around countering this and what it says is a growing Chinese military threat elsewhere.

 

[Beijingwalker]

Chinese Liaoning carrier battle group sails between Japanese islands near Taiwan