The Government of Japan affirmed today that five ballistic missiles fired by China during its maneuvers this Thursday fell in waters belonging to its special economic zone (EEZ).
The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that the missiles hit within the EEZ of the archipelago, for which the Japanese authorities have moved a protest to Beijing.
China began this Thursday live fire maneuvers around Taiwan, (which is about 160 kilometers from the southwestern tip of the Japanese archipelago), in response to the visit on the eve of the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
Japan detected nine launches of Chinese ballistic missiles between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time (6:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. GMT), of which five went to its EEZ, according to the Japanese defense minister, Nobuo Kishi, in statements to the media.
“This is a very serious incident that affects the security of our territory and our population,” said Kishi, who also said that this is the first time that ballistic missiles from the Chinese army have hit waters in the special economic zone.
The Japanese government has presented a diplomatic protest to the Chinese Executive as a result of the launches, carried out within the framework of the Chinese Army’s exercises in the Taiwan Strait and which have caused the closure of maritime and air space in six areas around the island. considered by Beijing as part of its territory.
The missiles ended up in waters near the island of Hateruma, belonging to the Okinawa archipelago, in the extreme southwest of Japan.
The incident comes to increase tensions between neighboring countries, after in recent months Tokyo has denounced an increase in Chinese naval military activities around the Senkaku Islands, administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing (which calls them Diaoyu) , and in other areas of the archipelago.
