BEIJING (AP) — A squadron of Chinese naval vessels sailed through straits near Japan to the Western Pacific this week, as Beijing on Friday rejected Tokyo’s adoption of a new national security strategy and put itself on a more offensive footing — largely due to the perceived threat from China.
The destroyers Lhasa and Kaifeng and a supply ship sailed through the Osumi Strait in southern Japan, while a Dongdiao-class hull number 796 surveillance vessel passed through the Miyako Strait south of Okinawa, all arriving in the western Pacific on Thursday .
Japan’s defense ministry said the craft was shadowed by Japanese ships and planes everywhere.
The Communist Party newspaper Global Times quoted unidentified experts on Friday as saying the mission “sent a signal amid Japan’s recent militaristic moves” that undermined the People’s Liberation Army’s “capabilities in protecting China’s national sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests”.
China routinely sends warships through straits between Japanese islands, even as it vehemently objects to the presence of foreign naval vessels in the Taiwan Strait. All are classified as international waters.
Late last month, Russian and Chinese strategic bombers also flew over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on an eight-hour mission in a show of ever-closer defense ties between the two countries.
Faced with challenges from North Korea, China and Russia, Japan on Friday adopted a national security strategy announcing plans to have pre-emptive strike capabilities and cruise missiles within a few years.
The strategy called China “the greatest strategic challenge” to Japan’s efforts to ensure peace, security and stability for itself and international society.
Japan’s post-World War II policy prioritized economic growth while keeping security low by relying on U.S. troops stationed in Japan under their bilateral security agreement.
But experts say China’s growing influence, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fears of an emergency in Taiwan have prompted many Japanese to support more capacity and spending. China also says a group of small, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan and Beijing regularly stirs resentment over Japan’s ruthless occupation of much of China more than 75 years ago.
Japan plans to spend 5 trillion yen ($37 billion) as early as 2026 to deploy foreign-developed range missiles, including Lockheed Martin’s Tomahawk and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, while Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industry has a ground-to-ship guided missile. rocket ship.
Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, repeated allegations that Japan “disregarded facts, deviated from its commitment to China-Japan relations and the common understanding between the two countries, and brought China into unfounded disrepute.”
“Praising the so-called Chinese threat to find an excuse for the military buildup is doomed to fail,” Wang said at a daily news briefing.
