Ministry of Defence confirms submarine and three Japanese destroyers conduct a military drill in disputed waters
A Japanese submarine joined a military exercise in the contested area of the South China Sea, in a move that could infuriate Beijing, which claims most of the disputed waters.
Japan’s participation is the latest challenge to China’s military build-up in Asia’s most strategic waterway.
In a rare announcement on Monday, the Japanese ministry of defence confirmed the submarine Kuroshio, as well as the helicopter carrier Kaga and two other destroyers, the Inazuma and Suzutsuki, took part in an anti-submarine warfare exercise in the South China Sea on Thursday.
This was the first time Japan’s maritime self defence force has confirmed a military drill by a Japanese submarine in the waters.
Kuroshio, which left Japan on August 26, visited Cam Ranh in central Vietnam on Monday afternoon in the first port call by a Japanese submarine to a strategically important military base in Vietnam, the most provocative claimant against China’s military build-up in the South China Sea.
Japan’s defence ministry did not give much detail of where exactly the exercise was held, but Japan’s Asahi newspaper cited sources as saying the Kuroshio joined the other three Japanese warships just southwest of the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal, a territory also claimed by the Philippines.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang called on Tokyo to “respect the efforts made by regional countries to resolve the South China Sea issue through talks”.
