China aircraft carrier briefly enters Japan's contiguous waters: report

TOKYO: A Chinese aircraft carrier briefly entered Japan’s contiguous waters for the first time, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed defence sources.

NHK said the Liaoning sailed between the islands of Yonaguni and Iriomote in the southern Okinawa region, temporarily entering the “contiguous” zone adjacent to Japan’s territorial sea.

Contiguous waters are a 12-nautical-mile band that extends beyond territorial waters.

The move comes as Japan strongly protested early this month after a Chinese naval ship entered its territorial waters.

A Chinese naval formation led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier also sailed through waters northeast of Taiwan on Wednesday and continued towards the southeast of Japan’s Yonaguni Island, Taipei’s government said.

“During this period, the armed forces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly,” Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement.

The voyage came after the Chinese military tailed a US aircraft that flew through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, Beijing’s army said, vowing to “resolutely defend national sovereignty”.

“On September 17, a US P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft flew through the Taiwan Strait,” Li Xi, a senior captain and spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), said in a statement.

“Troops are on constant high alert to resolutely defend national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability.”

Beijing views self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and claims jurisdiction over the waterway that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.

The Chinese aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong have sailed through the Taiwan Strait several times in recent years as Beijing intensified military and political pressure on the island.

Taiwan’s military has reported near daily sightings of Chinese warplanes, drones and naval vessels around the island.

On Wednesday, the defence ministry said nine Chinese military aircraft, 13 naval vessels and one official ship were detected in a 24-hour window ending at 6:00 am (2200 GMT Tuesday).

It said in a second statement that a further 15 Chinese warplanes were detected on Wednesday, of which 12 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait “in conducting air-sea joint training” with Chinese naval vessels.

“The People’s Liberation Army also fired multiple launched rockets in the inland Gansu area,” it added.