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Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, left, receives a briefing from a member of Self-Defense Forces personnel in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, on Jan. 21.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
2:00 JST, February 16, 2025
Chinese Navy ships passed through the waters surrounding the Nansei Islands 68 times while sailing between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean in 2024, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said at a press conference Friday.
The number was over three times higher than that recorded in 2021.
The number of incidents of Chinese Navy ships passing through this part of the sea has risen steadily in the past few years, from 21 in 2021 to 46 in 2022 and 53 in 2023.
The Chinese Navy has been increasingly active in the Pacific Ocean. About 1,200 takeoffs and landings of Chinese carrier-borne aircraft were confirmed in 2024.
Nakatani also talked about the fact that a Chinese military aircraft intruded into Japanese territorial airspace in August last year and a Chinese Navy aircraft carrier passed through the sea between Yonaguni Island and Iriomote Island in Okinawa Prefecture for the first time in September last year.
“I feel a strong sense of danger from the fact that multiple incidents like these occurred in such a short period of time,” he said.
The Chinese military has conducted joint bomber and warship exercises with the Russian military. “As we work to secure Japan’s peace and safety, we are facing strategic challenges of an unprecedented size,” the minister said.
