Filipino sailors watch the guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn and the Philippine offshore patrol vessel BRP Gabriela Silang during a joint exercise that took place Jan. 25-26, 2026, in the South China Sea. (Armed Forces of the Philippines)
Japan tracked four Chinese warships transiting a strategic waterway near Okinawa this week, a move that followed U.S.-Philippine military drills near a contested South China Sea atoll that drew complaints from Beijing.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force monitored two Chinese guided-missile destroyers, a frigate and a replenishment ship as they passed through the Miyako Strait between 7 p.m. Tuesday and 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to a Wednesday news release from Japan’s Joint Staff.
The vessels traveled southeast through the strait — an approximately 155-mile-wide waterway between Miyako Island and Okinawa — moving from the East China Sea into the Philippine Sea, the release said. The strait is an international waterway that lies within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense conducted surveillance and intelligence gathering using the minesweeper JS Shishijima, a Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft and a P-3C Orion surveillance plane, the Joint Staff said.
“China continues to frequently cross the so-called First Island Chain into the Pacific Ocean, as in this latest incident, and is intensifying its military activities around Japan,” Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi wrote Wednesday on X.
A Joint Staff spokesman was unable to say anything definitive about the ships’ purpose or intentions in the region.
“Activities by Chinese military in the Indo-Pacific are becoming more active and expanding,” he told Stars and Stripes by phone Thursday. “The Self-Defense Forces will continue to maintain the utmost vigilance and monitoring.”
Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press on condition of anonymity.
The Chinese transit came a day after the United States and the Philippines concluded a two-day exercise near Scarborough Shoal, a South China Sea feature claimed by China, Taiwan and the Philippines, according to a Wednesday news release from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The shoal, which lies in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, has become a flashpoint between Manila and Beijing. Both countries routinely patrol the area.
The “maritime cooperative activity,” which ran Sunday through Monday, included maneuvering drills, replenishments at sea, communications checks and “shared maritime domain awareness,” according to a Tuesday news release from the U.S. 7th Fleet.
The guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft joined Philippine forces, including the guided-missile frigate BRP Antonio Luna, the offshore patrol vessel BRP Gabriela Silang, an A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft and an FA-50 light fighter jet.
China criticized the exercise. Southern Theater Command spokesman Col. Tian Junli accused the Philippines of “disrupting peace and stability in the South China Sea” and said Manila was “co-opting countries outside the region” to organize joint patrols, according to a Wednesday report by the state-run China Military Online.
Beijing claims nearly the entire South China Sea and has repeatedly clashed with the Philippines over competing territorial claims.
The maritime exercise was the 11th conducted by the U.S. and the Philippines, the Philippine military said. The drills have taken place regularly since November 2023.
The drills enhance “coordination, tactical proficiency, and mutual understanding” between the allies and “contribute to peace and stability in the region,” the command said.
