10 naval vessels from china and russia
have sailed through a strait separating
japan's main island and its northern
island of Hokkaido. The Japanese
government said adding that it was
closely watching such activities.
The government is closely watching
chinese and russian naval vessels
activities around japan like this one
with high interest.
Deputy chief cabinet
secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a
regular news conference on tuesday, "we will continue to do our utmost in our
surveillance activity in waters and
airspace around japan."
This was the first time japan confirmed
the passage of Chinese and Russian naval
vessels sailing together on monday
through the sugaru strait, which
separates the sea of japan from the Pacific.
While the strait is regarded as
international waters, japan's ties with
china have long been plagued by
conflicting claims over a group of tiny
east china sea islands. Tokyo has a territorial dispute with
moscow as well.
A japanese defense
ministry spokesperson said there had
been no violation of Japanese
territorial waters and no international
rules were broken by the passage of the
vessels. Russia and China held joint naval drills
in the sea of japan as part of naval
cooperation between the two countries
involving warships and support vessels
from Russia's pacific fleet.
Moscow and Beijing have cultivated
closer military and diplomatic ties in
recent years at a time when their
relations with the west have soured.
Japan spots chinese and russian warships
sailing through the tsugaru strait for
the first time. Chinese and Russian warships have been
spotted for the first time sailing
through international waters at the
sugaru strait located between japan's
main islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, the Japanese Ministry Of Defense MOD announced.
The MOD said it is the first time that
the ministry spotted chinese and russian
warships going through the strait
simultaneously. It noted that a total of 10 ships were
identified. The mod said japan maritime
self-defense force minesweepers js
izushima and jsaoshima.
Tokyo concerned over China-Russia naval
drills near japan. japan expressed
concern monday after china and russia
held a joint naval exercise in which 10
of their warships passed through
international waterways between its
northern and southern islands.
The chinese and russian vessels were
first spotted last monday passing
through the tsugaru strait between
japan's main island of honshu and the
northern island of Hokkaido.
They passed
through the osumi strait off the
southern island of kyushu on thursday, completing a near circle around Japan's
main island before heading back toward China.
Yoshihiko Isozaki, the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary said at a regular
briefing that it was the first time Japan has confirmed that Chinese and Russian naval vessels passed jointly
through the Tsugaru and Osumi straits
and in waters near the Izu islands off
the main island southeastern coast.
The straits are considered international
waters. Japanese officials said the Chinese and Russian ships did not enter
japanese territorial waters. Japan considers China's increasingly
assertive maritime activities as a
regional security threat.
