A Chinese aircraft carrier entered an area near Japan’s shores for the first time on Wednesday, leading Tokyo to convey its “serious concerns” to Beijing over China’s increasingly assertive military actions around Japan, officials said.
The Chinese carrier Liaoning, accompanied by two destroyers, sailed between Japan’s westernmost island of Yonaguni and nearby Iriomote, entering the country's co-called “contiguous zone,” the Defense Ministry said.
That's an area of sea beyond a country's territorial waters in which it can still exercise some control over maritime traffic, reaching up to 24 nautical miles offshore.
The Liaoning's transit was part of a fleet movement Tuesday and Wednesday, during which Chinese warships also passed off the western coast of the disputed Japanese-controlled islets it calls the Senkakus, the ministry said.
China claims the same islets, calling them the Diaoyus.
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