China said that a group of its naval vessels, including a destroyer, sailed through a channel between two islands governed by Japan’s Okinawa prefecture on Wednesday, as they were returning home after conducting far-seas capability tests.
Vessel formation 133 dispatched by the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command has completed its training in the Western Pacific, and has returned through the Yonaguni-Iriomote Waterway, said the command, which is responsible for East China, the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
Strategic Importance of the Waterway
While non-Japanese vessels are allowed to pass through the narrow band of waters in the middle of the Yonaguni-Iriomote Waterway, Japan reserves the right to take action if vessels stray into the country’s territorial sea, defined as seas 12 nautical miles (22 km) from its shoreline.
The width of the waterway is about 65 km (35 nautical miles).
On Sunday, the PLA formation sailed through the same waterway to reach the Pacific Ocean. The transit followed the passage of a Japanese destroyer through the Taiwan Strait on Friday that Beijing said was a “deliberate provocation”.
China regards democratically governed Taiwan as part of its “sacred” territory despite Taipei’s rejection of the claim. Beijing has responded aggressively on occasion to foreign navies sailing through the Taiwan Strait, which Beijing says is not international waters.
Rising Tensions
The Japanese transit last week provoked an angry response from the Chinese foreign ministry, which said Japan’s deployment of a military vessel in the Taiwan Strait was “a display of force” and “a deliberate provocation” that threatens China’s sovereignty and security.
Sino-Japanese ties have significantly weakened since November last year when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could spark a military response from Japan.
In September 2024, the Liaoning passed through the Yonaguni-Iriomote Waterway, marking the first transit of a Chinese aircraft carrier in Japan’s contiguous waters, triggering loud protests from Tokyo.
(With inputs from Reuters)
