TOKYO July 21, 2026 — Japan has lodged a diplomatic protest after a Chinese guided-missile destroyer carried out a live-fire machine-gun training exercise inside Japan’s claimed exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Pacific Ocean.
According to Japan’s Defense Ministry, on July 19 a group of four warships — two Chinese guided-missile destroyers, one Chinese supply ship, and one Russian frigate — was detected sailing in the waters southwest of Okinotori Island (also known as Okinotorishima), Japan’s southernmost territory. One of the Chinese destroyers then conducted machine-gun firing drills approximately 180 km (about 112 miles) southwest of the island, inside the EEZ Japan claims around it.
Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) assets monitored the vessels throughout the activity. No damage to other ships or safety incidents were reported. Japan’s Defense Ministry described the exercise as the first time it has publicly confirmed and announced a Chinese warship conducting live-fire training inside Japan’s EEZ.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi highlighted the development during a keynote speech at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK on July 20, noting that Chinese and Russian naval forces conducted “live-fire drills” inside Japan’s EEZ and that military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow is deepening.
The four-ship group had earlier transited southward through waters between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako Island into the Pacific on July 16, consistent with a previously announced China-Russia joint Pacific patrol.
Japan protested the live-fire activity through diplomatic channels, arguing it could endanger the safety of vessels navigating in the area. Tokyo has long maintained that Okinotori qualifies as an island under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and therefore generates a full 200-nautical-mile EEZ. China, however, has consistently argued that Okinotori is a rock and does not generate an EEZ.
The incident comes amid ongoing tensions over maritime activities in the region and follows a series of Chinese naval transits and training activities near Japanese waters in recent months.
Japan’s Joint Staff continues to monitor Chinese and Russian naval movements in the waters surrounding Japan and releases updates on such activities. No immediate response from the Chinese side regarding the protest has been reported in initial coverage.
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