The U.. S and Japanese navies said Friday they completed a four-day joint exercise in the East China Sea, as tension…
TOKYO —
The U.. S and Japanese navies said Friday they completed a four-day joint exercise in the East China Sea, as tension intensifies in the region following North Korea’s missile tests.
The training, characterised by Japanese media essentially as a show-of-force exercise, coincided with renewed tensions in the region after North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launches earlier this week.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and the guided missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer from the U. S. Navy joined the Japanese destroyers Sazanami and Samidare in the East China Sea to “increase proficiency in basic maritime skills and improve response capabilities,” the U. S. Navy said in a statement.
Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, the country’s navy, said in a separate statement that the exercises focused on “tactical training”, without elaborating
But Japan’s conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper said the drill was aimed at issuing a warning against nuclear-armed North Korea by “exhibiting the strength and deterrent power of the Japan-U. S. alliance.”
The joint drill commenced a day after North Korea launched four ballistic missiles on Monday, with three landing provocatively close to Japan, which the U.
