The Japanese Defense Ministry said it dispatched a ship and an aircraft to monitor the movements of a Chinese navy flotilla on Monday as it passed through its southwestern islands.
The Joint Staff of Japan's Self-Defense Forces reported the following day that the Sugashima-class coastal minesweeper JS Shishijima was sent to shadow the Chinese vessels, which were also watched from the sky by a P-3C maritime patrol aircraft.
Photographs released on the same day confirmed the presence of the Type 052D or Luyang III-class destroyer Urumqi, the Type 054A or Jiangkai II-class frigate Linyi and the Type 903A replenishment ship Dongpinghu—all in service with China's North Sea Fleet.
Tokyo, which routinely discloses the positions of foreign military vessels near its maritime borders, said the trio of Chinese ships was first detected at 4 p.m. local time on May 13 about 55 miles east of the Japanese island of Miyako.
Newsweek's map shows the flotilla sailing northward through the Miyako Strait between Miyako and Okinawa islands, the latter of which hosts some two-thirds of the U.S. forces stationed in Japan. The ships were presumed to be returning to their eastern China home port of Qingdao on the Yellow Sea.
Japan's Joint Staff confirmed that the Urumqi, the Linyi and the Dongpinghu were the same three ships that had sailed southward through the same waters in September 2023, two days after the Chinese navy said they had departed Qingdao.
The vessels are part of the 45th Chinese naval escort task force, a rotational contribution to counterpiracy missions in the Middle East, mostly off the Horn of Africa.
The flotilla led by the missile destroyer Urumqi arrived in the Gulf of Aden last October and escorted Chinese and foreign merchant ships until it was formally relieved by the 46th rotational surface force on March 4, China's navy said.
In December, China credited the 45th task force with completing its navy's 1,600th escort mission in the region since deployments began in 2008.
A month earlier, the Pentagon said the Chinese warships ignored distress calls from a commercial vessel that came under missile fire from Houthi rebels in Yemen, at the start of the shipping crisis near the southern Red Sea.
Beijing, which remains on friendly terms with Tehran—which has long been accused of backing the Houthis—has sought to distance its naval presence in the area from U.S.-led efforts to defend vulnerable shipping lanes.
China has repeatedly said that its ongoing counterpiracy deployments have "nothing to do" with the situation in the Red Sea.
The Chinese navy has yet to announce a precise return date for the 45th task force. Its monthslong journey home has involved a number of stops along the way, including a four-day port call for "replenishment and rest" earlier this month at Malaysia's Port Klang in the Malacca Strait.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
John Feng is Newsweek's contributing editor for Asia based in Taichung, Taiwan. His focus is on East Asian politics. He ... Read more
