China Retaliates Against Japan with Live Fire Naval Exercises, The American Interest

China Retaliates Against Japan with Live Fire Naval Exercises

To mark the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II, and in retaliation for visits by several Japanese ministers to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo yesterday, China’s navy carried out live-fire naval exercises in the East China Sea today. Separately, China’s aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, embarked on a ten-day training voyage in the Bohai Sea off the coast of northeast China.

Chinese media joined the offensive as well: “With 68 years now passed, the spectre of militarism still haunts Japan, threatening China and world stability,” reads an article from Xinhua. ”China has to count on its own development to rebuff any possible resurgence in Japanese militarism.”

Though routine, the exercises are another sign of the souring relations between East Asia’s most powerful countries—Japan, China, and South Korea. Each has a territorial dispute with the other and is caught in a cycle of military one-upmanship that shows no sign of ending.

[Chinese warship image courtesy of Shutterstock]