Japan Concerned by Chinese Military Activity

TOKYO (AP) -- Tokyo expressed unease Thursday over Chinese military and maritime activity near disputed islands that Japan controls, as China defended a flight by one of its fighter jets near Japanese airspace.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed concern over the sighting.

"It was an unusual action that we have never seen before. We'll keep monitoring it with great interest," Abe said Thursday before leaving for a trip that will take him to Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

During his travels, Abe plans to discuss ways to cooperate on maritime security, officials said. "I would like to share an understanding that we need to observe a rule of law, not a rule by force," Abe said.

The Chinese Defense Ministry issued a statement defending the right of its aircraft to operate in the area.

The training flight was a "scheduled annual arrangement that was not directed at any specific countries or targets and was in accordance with relevant international law and practice," China's official Global Times newspaper quoted an unidentified ministry spokesman as saying.

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said late Wednesday that the flight of the Chinese Y-8 early warning plane was "a sign of China's escalating maritime advance."

Japan's coast guard said the four Chinese craft were seen early Wednesday just outside Japanese territorial waters around the tiny uninhabited islands called Diaoyu by China and Senkaku by Japan. Chinese websites ran photos reportedly taken by the Japanese coast guard showing a ship painted in the service's new red, white and blue striped Chinese coast guard livery.

Tokyo is considering introducing drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, like the Global Hawk used by the U.S. military, and beefing up the role of self-defense troops in southwestern Japan to improve its defenses against China's increased activity, Japanese media reported Thursday. Those plans are expected to be included in an interim defense policy report due for release Friday.

Apart from its claims in the East China Sea, China has sparred with the Philippines and Vietnam over overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea, another area to which the new Chinese coast guard is being deployed.

A Chinese coast guard ship was sighted recently at Mischief Reef off the western Philippine coast, according to a confidential Philippine government report obtained by The Associated Press. China occupied the vast reef in 1995, sparking fierce protests from rival claimant Manila.

The Philippine government said it was verifying China's reported deployment of armed coast guard vessels, but added that in principle, such a move was inconsistent with efforts by Southeast Asian countries to build trust amid the territorial disputes. "It raises the level of tension in that area," Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said Thursday at a news conference in Manila.

---

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

© 2013 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.