US ally sends surveillance to watch over Chinese ships as fears of war surge
Warships are watching their Chinese counterparts closely with tensions in the South China Sea at an unprecedented level.
The Japanese Defense Ministry revealed on Monday that it had dispatched a ship and an aircraft to monitor the movements of a Chinese navy flotilla passing through its southwestern islands.
According to reports from Japan's Self-Defense Forces, the Sugashima-class coastal minesweeper JS Shishijima was deployed to track the Chinese vessels, which were also surveilled from the air by a P-3C maritime patrol aircraft.
Images released on the same day confirmed the presence of the Type 052D destroyer Urumqi, the Type 054A frigate Linyi, and the Type 903A replenishment ship Dongpinghu — all belonging to China's North Sea Fleet.
The Chinese ships were first detected around 55 miles east of the Japanese island of Miyako at 4 p.m. local time on May 13, according to Tokyo.
They were observed sailing northward through the Miyako Strait between Miyako and Okinawa islands, with Okinawa hosting the majority of U.S. forces stationed in Japan.
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Japan's Joint Staff confirmed that these were the same three vessels that had previously passed through these waters in September 2023.
The ships are part of China's 45th naval escort task force deployed for counterpiracy missions in the Middle East.
The task force had completed its 1,600th escort mission in the region in December, according to Chinese navy reports.
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The Chinese navy has not specified the exact return date for the 45th task force.
Its journey homeward has included multiple stops along the way, including a four-day stay earlier in May at Malaysia's Port Klang in the Malacca Strait.
Despite international scrutiny, Beijing maintains that its counterpiracy deployments are unrelated to geopolitical tensions in the region.
