Chinese warships cross waters near Japan's Okinawa islands

A Chinese naval flotilla passed through waters near islands in Okinawa, Japan, yesterday, further stoking tensions between Beijing and Tokyo already inflamed over a territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

The seven warships from the People's Liberation Army Navy's North Sea Fleet included destroyers, frigates, a refuelling vessel and submarine rescue vessels were spotted 49 kilometres from Yonaguni Island in Okinawa prefecture, Japan's defence ministry said, adding that it believed they were returning from an exercise in the Pacific earlier this month.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tokyo had demanded that Beijing take care of Sino-Japanese ties.

But China's Ministry of National Defence said the ships had been on a routine training exercise and were passing through the area in an "appropriate and legal" manner. "Japan has deployed military aircraft to areas around the Diaoyu Islands, and this seriously violates China's territorial rights," the defence ministry said. "We are closely following the moves by Japan, and call on Japan to stop any moves that will complicate and exaggerate the situation."

Chinese vessels must pass near the islands of the Okinawa chain to move between the Pacific and the East China Sea. But there are gaps between the islands that allow vessels to avoid Japan's contiguous zones, an area that extends another 12 nautical miles beyond its 12 nautical miles of territorial waters.

Japan's defence ministry spokesman said the Chinese vessels had "passed through a wider space between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island on their way out" on October 4. "They passed through the narrow strait on the way back, and this is the first time we have confirmed that they passed through the gap," he said.

The Chinese vessels were about 200 kilometres from the disputed Diaoyu Islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan.