Japan’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces had observed five Russian warships led by an anti-submarine destroyer steaming through the Tsushima Strait, which separates Japan and South Korea.
The Russian five-ship flotilla has been near the Japanese islands for a week, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, the ministry said in a press release.
Meanwhile, at least two Chinese warships and a supply ship were spotted on Tuesday in the Izu Islands, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the capital Tokyo. One such ship appeared to be the Lhasa, a type 55 guided missile destroyer and one of the most powerful surface ships in China.
The ministry said the group had been operating in waters near Japan since June 12.
“This is an obvious show of strength from both Russia and China,” said James Brown, an associate professor of political science at Tokyo Temple University.
“These activities are a major concern for Japan. Last but not least, monitoring the movements of Russian and Chinese military forces is a strain on the resources of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.”
From Tokyo, it was not claimed that the Russian and Chinese naval groups would coordinate their actions, as they did last October when a total of 10 Russian and Chinese warships participated jointly in exercises in which they circumnavigated much of the world. ‘Japanese archipelago.
Most recently, when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hosted a summit of U.S., Australian and Indian leaders in Tokyo, the Chinese and Russian air forces conducted joint strategic air patrols over the Sea of Japan, the sea. from eastern and western China. Pacific Ocean, in what the Chinese Ministry of Defense called part of an annual military cooperation plan.
Brown said Kishida’s hosting of the summit was just one of the reasons Beijing wanted to show its displeasure with Tokyo.
“Beijing has been outraged by Japanese statements on Taiwan’s security, which the Chinese Communist Party considers an internal affair,” Brown said.
In fact, it was at the Tokyo summit that President Joe Biden said the United States would intervene militarily if China tried to take Taiwan by force. The White House later withdrew that comment, but the U.S. maintains a powerful military presence in Japan: troops that could come into play in any conflict over Taiwan.
Taiwan and mainland China have been ruled separately since the defeated nationalists withdrew to the island at the end of the Chinese Civil War more than 70 years ago.
But the Chinese Communist Party, China’s ruling party, considers the island self-governing as part of its territory, even though it has never controlled it.
Beijing has not ruled out military force to take Taiwan, and Japan sees the conflict across the Taiwan Strait as a threat to its security.
Moscow, meanwhile, has been outraged by Tokyo’s support for Ukraine after Russian forces invaded its European neighbor nearly four months ago, Brown said. This support has included the imposition of sanctions on Moscow and the expulsion of Russian diplomats.
“Therefore, Russia wants to use its military power to intimidate Japan in the hope that this will deter Tokyo from imposing more such measures,” Brown said.
Brown described the fact that this week’s naval actions by Russia and China did not appear to be coordinated as a “silver lining” for Tokyo.
“Japan’s strategic nightmare is a genuine alliance between Russia and China,” he said.