Chinese aircraft carrier and five warships spotted near Okinawa: relations with Japan are strained

Chinese aircraft carrier and five escort ships passed key waterway ahead Japan on his way to him Pacific Oceansaid Sunday on Joint Chiefs of Staff Office of Department of Defense Japanese, in what was considered a provocation of the autocratic regime ordered by the head of state Xi Jinping. The situation is increasingly tense in the waters surrounding the eastern giant.

Japan announced that the Liaoning aircraft carrier and five other warships – including a destroyer – were spotted sailing south through the narrow passage that separates the Okinawa Main Island and Miyako Island. The ships did not enter Japanese waters or its contiguous area. According to the newspaper Nikkei, the set of ships was seen around 8 a.m. on Saturday about 470 kilometers southwest of the islands Danjo of the prefecture of Nagasaki. Then the convoy crossed the Strait of Miyako, the waterway of 250 km of ancho between Okinawa and Miyako.

it is not the first time Liaoning has been seen in the area. In April 2020, he had already passed through this waterway. The incident occurred days after naval exercises conducted between the Marines of the United States and Australia in the eastern Pacific. Also after the efforts of the Quad became known, the group of countries formed by these other two India and Japan.

Accompanying the aircraft carrier Liaoning a class guided missile destroyer could be identified Renhai, two class guided missile destroyers Luyang III, a multifunction frigate Jiangkai II and a fast class combat support ship Fuyu, as published Nikkei. For its part, the Tokyo government ordered the destroyer to intervene immediately. JS Suzutsuki, of a patrol plane P-1 and a patrol plane from P-3C anti-submarine warfare to collect information and monitor the movements of vessels under Beijing.

However, this was not the only initiative of the Chinese military in the sensitive area. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also said they distinguished the passage of a Y-9 military transport aircraft on the strait of Miyako Sunday and that Japan had launched a fighter jet into the airspace to respond. Tension is mounting between the two powers.

For its part, Indo-Pacific Command of United States focused on strengthening joint operations in several areas. The USS Blue Ridge – flagship of North America’s Seventh Fleet – operated with the destroyer of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force JS Kongo March 29. They both tested their combined maritime skills and intercom capabilities.

According to the newspaper The Japan Times, China sent the mighty Liaoning through this strategic channel five times since its entry into service in 2012. According to the experts consulted by the newspaper Phone, the measure highlighted the ability of the Chinese military to cross the so-called First Island Chain, a chain of islands in the Pacific that stretches from Kuriles and Ryukyus in Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia.

This section, along with the so-called second island chain consisting of the original islands of Japan and extends to Guam and the islands of Micronesia, is seen by some in the autocracy of Beijing as a natural barrier that limits the country and its armed forces. Xi Jinping’s regime has expanded its networks in recent years in an attempt to claim sovereignty over a set of seas it shares with other nations, which has generated continued tension in the region.

In the same order, the Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga stressed the importance of Japan and United States work closely together to mitigate the ongoing harassment of Beijing sure Taiwan. The theme of the Chinese threat be at the top of the agenda when you meet the US president Joe biden next week.

Support in the Philippines

The White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan and his Filipino counterpart, Hermogenes Esperon, shared their “concerns” about recent incursions by 200 fishing vessels into the Philippine-claimed territory from the South China Sea.

Sullivan said in a statement that he reaffirms the applicability of the defense treaty between the two countries as well as the agreement “to meet the challenges in the South China Sea.”

On March 21, the Philippine government denounced the appearance of more than 200 Chinese fishing boats – ruled by Philippine authorities by “militias” – while China denied having carried out an “incursion” in the South China Sea. and argued the presence of these boats “due to weather conditions”.

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the presence of the ships is a “provocative” act that “militarizes” the region.

For years, China has had a territorial dispute with Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines over several islands in the South China Sea. Significant oil reserves have been discovered on the continental shelf of these islands, particularly in Xisha (Paracel Islands), Nansha (Spratly Islands) and Huangyan (Scarborough Reef) Islands.

(With information from Japanese and Chinese agencies and media) .-

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