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China says warships near Japan on routine exercise
A group of Chinese warships spotted in the high seas near the southern Japanese island of Okinawa last week were just on a routine training exercise, China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
Two submarines and eight vessels were spotted on Saturday about 140 km (90 miles) southwest of Okinawa, the first time Japan has confirmed the presence of Chinese submarines and such a large number of vessels in the area, Japanese officials said.
Okinawa is where U.S. bases are concentrated in Japan.
But China said its ships were only training.
"The training was carried out on the high sea according to the People's Liberation Army Navy's annual training plan," the official Xinhua news agency quoted a Defence Ministry statement as saying.
"Other parties should not speculate (on) the flotilla's intentions since training in international waters (is) an international practice."
The ships were in the "China Sea and southeast waters off the coast of Japan's Miyakojima Island", the statement said.
It provided no other details.
Japan said on Tuesday it would investigate the sighting of the Chinese submarines and warships, though added that China did not violate any international law by navigating in that area.
Beijing has been forging ahead with military modernisation. Japan, while deepening bilateral ties and expanding military exchanges with China, has often called for more transparency of Beijing's growing military spending and equipment.
China says warships near Japan on routine exercise | World | Reuters
A group of Chinese warships spotted in the high seas near the southern Japanese island of Okinawa last week were just on a routine training exercise, China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
Two submarines and eight vessels were spotted on Saturday about 140 km (90 miles) southwest of Okinawa, the first time Japan has confirmed the presence of Chinese submarines and such a large number of vessels in the area, Japanese officials said.
Okinawa is where U.S. bases are concentrated in Japan.
But China said its ships were only training.
"The training was carried out on the high sea according to the People's Liberation Army Navy's annual training plan," the official Xinhua news agency quoted a Defence Ministry statement as saying.
"Other parties should not speculate (on) the flotilla's intentions since training in international waters (is) an international practice."
The ships were in the "China Sea and southeast waters off the coast of Japan's Miyakojima Island", the statement said.
It provided no other details.
Japan said on Tuesday it would investigate the sighting of the Chinese submarines and warships, though added that China did not violate any international law by navigating in that area.
Beijing has been forging ahead with military modernisation. Japan, while deepening bilateral ties and expanding military exchanges with China, has often called for more transparency of Beijing's growing military spending and equipment.
China says warships near Japan on routine exercise | World | Reuters
