Chinese destroyer trains with live fire inside Japan’s EEZ for first time

A Chinese navy guided-missile destroyer trained with live machine-gun fire inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the first such incident acknowledged by Japan’s Defense Ministry.

A combined Chinese and Russian naval force that included the Chinese guided-missile destroyers Kaifeng and Anshan, the supply ship Kekexilihu and a Russian frigate was spotted 205 miles southwest of Okinotorshima at 2 a.m. Sunday, according to a news release Tuesday from Japan’s Joint Staff.

The flotilla was spotted Thursday sailing through the Miyako Strait, the wide passage between Miyako Island and Okinawa.

The Kaifeng later conducted the live-fire exercise in the Philippine Sea 110 miles southwest of Okinotorishima, a tiny atoll and Japan’s southernmost territory about 1,050 miles south of Tokyo.

“The Chinese vessel fired a machine gun toward the target,” a Joint Staff spokesman said by phone Tuesday. He declined to comment on whether the other vessels also fired during the exercise or how many rounds were fired.

“It is the first time that we have publicly announced that a foreign vessel conducted a live-fire exercise within our exclusive economic zone,” he said.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Samidare, based in Hiroshima, was dispatched to conduct surveillance and gather information.

A country’s EEZ, where it has exclusive rights over natural resources, extends up to 200 nautical miles from the coastline, according to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Territorial seas extend only 12 nautical miles from the coastline.

“China notified about the live-fire exercise to nearby vessels via radio shortly before the exercise began,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said during his regular press conference Tuesday.

Japan sent protests to Beijing through diplomatic channels citing potential dangers to nearby vessels, according to Kihara.

“We view this as part of moves to strengthen military cooperation,” he said. “We will continue to monitor the movements of Chinese and Russian naval vessels in the waters surrounding Japan with concern, while ensuring thorough surveillance and vigilance in the airspace and waters around the country.”

China and Russia have been expanding their joint naval exercises and presence in the Pacific.

More than 15 Chinese and Russian vessels transited key waterways around Japan between June and July, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.

The two countries also held the Joint Sea exercise in the Yellow Sea off Qingdao, a port city in eastern China, from July 6 to 13, according to a July 13 news release from China’s Ministry of National Defense.

The Kaifeng, Anshan and Kekexilihu participated in the exercise, according to photos posted with the release.

The ministry had announced that the two navies would “conduct a joint maritime patrol in relevant areas of the Pacific Ocean” after the exercise.

Chinese aircraft carriers were also spotted operating simultaneously in the Pacific in June 2025.

The Shandong entered Japan’s EEZ near Okinotorishima. Meanwhile, the Chinese carrier Liaoning was operating in Japanese EEZ near Minamitorishima. It was the first known instance of both Chinese carriers operating simultaneously in the Pacific.