A Chinese military vessel conducted live-fire exercises within Japan’s exclusive economic zone on Sunday, marking the first acknowledged instance of a foreign navy firing live ammunition in those waters. The drill took place approximately 180 kilometers from Okinotori, Japan’s southernmost island, and involved machine gun fire using live rounds. The exercise was preceded by the passage of three Chinese warships and a Russian frigate between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako island earlier in the week.
Japan’s government conveyed concerns to China through diplomatic channels, noting that the drill posed potential hazards to nearby maritime traffic. Japanese officials characterized the exercise as part of broader military coordination between China and Russia. China contests Japan’s designation of Okinotori as an island capable of generating an exclusive economic zone, instead characterizing it as a reef and asserting the right to conduct operations in the surrounding waters.
The incident occurred amid escalating military activities in the region coinciding with rising tensions between Japan and China. Relations deteriorated following comments by a Japanese government official regarding Taiwan in November 2025, in which Japan’s prime minister indicated that a Chinese military action against Taiwan could trigger a Japanese response. Chinese and Russian military exercises have intensified around Japan as Tokyo’s relationship with Moscow has deteriorated over geopolitical disputes.
The timing of the drill preceded a separate incident in the South China Sea involving Chinese and Philippine naval forces at Second Thomas Shoal. A confrontation between vessels resulted in a reported injury to a Philippine sailor, though accounts of the incident differed between the two nations. The Philippines and China are scheduled to hold diplomatic talks at an Asean meeting in Manila later in the week, with the United States expressing opposition to what it described as Chinese provocations undermining regional stability.
China maintains territorial disputes with multiple countries across the region and rejects previous international arbitration decisions regarding its maritime claims in the South China Sea.