The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) conducted live-fire drills 180 miles off the southernmost Japanese island, Okinotori. The Russian military tagged along (The Associated Press, August 1, 2026).
The Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer’s drill off Japan’s southernmost island of Okinotori came hours after the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted the destroyer operating alongside two other PLAN warships and a Russian frigate, Japan’s Joint Staff said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Tokyo conveyed concerns that the drills potentially threatened the safety of nearby vessels, which were notified by the PLAN warships just before the drills started….
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the exercise underscores “the deepening military cooperation between China and Russia.” He noted China’s test-launch of a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine in early July, and at least 10 joint flights by Chinese and Russian bombers around Japan.
Japan is alarmed by China’s rapid expansion of operations in the Indo-Pacific, especially since two PLAN aircraft carriers operated nearly simultaneously for the first time near the southern Japanese island of Iwo Jima in 2025. It fueled Tokyo’s concern about Beijing’s military activity far beyond its borders.
A former Japanese defense official, Masahisa Sato, believes that the live-fire drills are the first in a series of incremental steps designed to keep expanding Chinese presence in a way always just shy of triggering military conflict. He says that Japan should ramp up its defenses in the area.
International law
AP: “Japan’s Joint Staff said it was the first time it has detected PLA live-fire drills in the nation’s EEZ, although the action did not violate international law.”
Did it not? But maybe it doesn’t matter. No matter how aggressive the behavior, China always says that China is acting in accordance with international law.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Jiang Bin denies that Okinotori is even an island. It’s just a coral reef with delusions of grandeur.
“Japan falsely treats the reef as an island and claims an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf on that basis. Such claims hold no legal ground whatsoever. The relevant operations conducted by China and Russia are consistent with international law and customary international law.”
The intimidation thus conforms not only to international law but also to “customary international law”—making it doubly standard and legitimate.
