Officials believe that the submarine belonged to the Chinese Navy as Beijing’s destroyer was navigating near it….reports Asian Lite News
Japan’s forces on Friday detected a foreign submarine navigating in the contiguous zone, just outside the country’s territorial waters east of Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, a media report said.
The submarine was underwater and heading northwest. Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (SDF) destroyer and patrol aircraft followed the submarine and by Sunday morning, it had left the contiguous zone without entering Japan’s territorial waters. Later, the submarine was navigating west in the East China Sea, Japan’s NHK World reported on Sunday.
Officials believe that the submarine belonged to the Chinese Navy as Beijing’s destroyer was navigating near it.
In June last year, a submarine that was believed to be Chinese was navigating near the same island. After that incident, it was the first time that Japanese forces detected a foreign submarine in the contiguous zone, according to NHK World.
Under international law, submarines have to ascend and display their national flags, while navigating within the territorial waters of another country. But there’s no such rule for contiguous zones. Japanese officials have said that they are analysing the objective of submarines navigation.
Meanwhile, in yet another incident, a Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday.
One People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane entered the southwest corner of Taiwan’s ADIZ, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND).
In response, Taiwan sent aircraft, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed air defence missile systems to track the PLAAF plane, Taiwan News reported.
Saturday’s incursion marks the ninth day in a row China’s planes have flown into Taiwan’s identification zone. Beijing has sent a mix of spotter planes, fighter jets, and bombers into the zone every day this month except for September 2.
Since mid-September of last year, Beijing has stepped up its grey-zone tactics by regularly sending planes into Taiwan’s ADIZ, with most instances occurring in the southwest corner of the zone and usually consisting of one to three slow-flying turboprop planes.
Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that “Taiwan’s independence” means war.
On June 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to complete reunification with self-ruled Taiwan and vowed to smash any attempts at formal independence for the island. (ANI)
