Reuters & News Daily – 2012-11-02 02:49:46
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre89t0u2-us-japan-usa-china/
US, Japan to Hold Joint Military Drill Amid Island Row with China
Reuters
TOKYO (October 30, 2012) — Japan and the United States will hold a biennial joint military exercise in Japan in November in a move likely to further anger China amid heightened tensions between the two Asian giants over disputed islets in the East China Sea.
About 37,400 military personnel from Japan will join some 10,000 US troops in the November 5-16 drill, an official at Japan’s Self-Defence Forces said.
China’s Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said last week China was “paying close attention to the relevant moves by the Japanese”, when asked about a joint military exercise between the United States and Japan. Yang also accused Japan of “manufacturing tensions in the region”.
In recent weeks, both Japan and China have sent patrol ships to waters near the uninhabited islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, raising concerns that an unintended collision could develop into a larger clash.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Sui-Lee Wee; Editing Jeremy Laurence)
China Practices Stopping “Illegal Entry” Near Disputed Seas
News Daily
BEIJING, Oct. 19, 2012 (Reuters) — China’s navy and civilian maritime patrol vessels practiced on Friday stopping “illegal entry” into Chinese waters in the East China Sea, state media said, an area where Beijing is embroiled in a territorial dispute with Japan.
State news agency Xinhua said the drill was the largest in recent years, made up of 11 vessels, eight aircraft and more than 1,000 sailors.
While the report made no mention of tensions with Japan over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, it left little doubt the maneuvers were aimed at sending a message to Tokyo.
“The drill included simulations of illegal entry, obstruction, harassment and intentional interference by foreign vessels when Chinese ships of the fishery administration and marine surveillance agency patrolled,” Xinhua said.
The exercise, it said, “was aimed at improving coordination between the navy and administrative patrol vessels, as well as sharpening their response to emergencies in order to safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime interests”.
Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto, quoted by his ministry’s Internet site, said he would not comment on the nature or purpose of the exercises.
But he added in comments to reporters: “Regardless of their activities, we remain vigilant in the waters and airspace where our country is in charge.”
Chinese fishery patrol ships and Japan’s coast guard have faced off in recent weeks in the seas around what China calls the Diaoyu Islands and Japan the Senkaku islands. Taiwan also claims them.
Violent protests and calls for boycotts of Japanese products broke out across China in mid-September after Japan bought some of the islets from their private owner.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Editing by Ron Popeski)
Copyright Reuters 2008.
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