Japan tracks Chinese destroyers and supply ships near Okinawa

Japan tracked four Chinese navy ships moving through the Miyako Strait between Okinawa and Miyako Island over two days, with one destroyer pair heading back into the East China Sea and another heading out into the Pacific, the Joint Staff of Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a post on Nov. 2.

On Nov. 1, a Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer and a Fuyu-class fast combat support ship sailed northwest through the strait toward the East China Sea. On Nov. 2, a second Luyang III-class destroyer and a Fuchi-class replenishment ship sailed southeast through the same waters toward the Pacific. The Joint Staff did not give the ships’ hull numbers or say where either group was going.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force watched both transits from the air. A P-1 maritime patrol aircraft from Fleet Air Wing 1 at Kanoya, in Kagoshima Prefecture, and a P-3C Orion from Fleet Air Wing 5 at Naha, on Okinawa, carried out surveillance and intelligence gathering, the Joint Staff said.

The Luyang III, known in China as the Type 052D, is the Chinese navy’s most numerous modern air defense destroyer, armed with vertical-launch cells for surface-to-air, anti-ship and land-attack missiles. The Fuyu class, or Type 901, is China’s largest class of replenishment ship, built to keep aircraft carrier groups supplied with fuel and ammunition at sea. The smaller Fuchi class, or Type 903, is the navy’s standard fleet oiler and supply ship. Pairing a destroyer with a supply ship lets the warship stay at sea for longer deployments beyond China’s coastal waters.

The Miyako Strait, about 250 km (155 miles) wide, lies within Japan’s exclusive economic zone but is an international waterway that foreign warships may legally transit. It is one of the main routes the Chinese navy uses to reach the western Pacific from its bases on the East China Sea.

Chinese traffic through the strait has been heavy in recent weeks. The aircraft carrier Liaoning and three destroyers sailed through it into the Pacific on Oct. 14 and carried out flight operations south of Ishigaki Island. On Oct. 27, the Type 055 destroyer Lhasa, the Type 052D destroyer Xining, the frigate Yancheng and the supply ship Hoh Xil Lake also transited the strait, and Chinese Y-9 surveillance aircraft crossed the gap between Okinawa and Miyako on several days in late October, prompting Japanese fighter scrambles. The activity coincided with Keen Sword, a large U.S.-Japan military exercise that ran from Oct. 19 to 29.