Japan MSDF Destroyer Sails in Taiwan Strait for 1st Time
Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer has sailed in the Taiwan Strait for the first time since the SDF was established in 1954, government sources said Thursday.
The passage was an apparent warning against China's increasing military activities in areas near Japan. China reacted sharply to the move.
The MSDF destroyer Sazanami, based in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, passed through the strait from the East China Sea side Wednesday, joining Australian and New Zealand naval ships in sailing south to take part in a joint exercise in the South China Sea, the sources said.
The United States and European countries have had their naval vessels pass through the Taiwan Strait repeatedly under the banner of freedom of navigation, claiming that the area is international waters. Japan, on the other hand, had not taken such action, apparently because it did not hope to provoke China.
At a news conference Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed a "strong sense of crisis" over recent Chinese military activities. "We'll keep monitoring the situation with strong interest and take all possible warning and surveillance measures," he stressed.
In August, a Y-9 reconnaissance plane of the Chinese military violated Japanese airspace off the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan. A Chinese survey ship violated Japanese waters around the island of Yakushima in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima.
On Sept. 18, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning entered the contiguous zone surrounding Japanese waters between Yonaguni and Iriomote islands in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.
This was followed by an incident on Monday in which eight Chinese and Russian military vessels jointly sailed through the Soya Strait between the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido and Russia's Sakhalin.
This time, Tokyo has chosen a strong measure, apparently to ensure that Japan is not viewed as having a political vacuum during the transition of power linked to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election Friday.
However, there is a risk that tensions will escalate if China, in response, intensifies its military actions.
"SDF activities are conducted in accordance with international law and domestic laws and regulations," Hayashi said. But he avoided giving detailed explanations about the latest move of the Sazanami.
In China, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news conference Thursday that China "is highly vigilant on Japan's political intention" behind the passage of the MSDF destroyer through the Taiwan Strait.
He added that Beijing made a protest to Tokyo over the issue.
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