China, Russia navies hold live-fire drills within Japan's EEZ: minister

Koizumi revealed the development on Monday during a keynote speech at an international airshow in Farnborough in southern Britain, where he signaled Japan's readiness to make strides toward more robust defense production.

A Chinese navy guided-missile destroyer conducted a firing drill involving a machine gun on Sunday within Japan's EEZ in the Pacific, about 180 kilometers southwest of Okinotori, Japan's southernmost island, the Japanese Defense Ministry said after the minister's speech.

The vessel was part of a group of Chinese and Russian warships seen sailing about 330 km southwest of the remote island earlier, at around 2 a.m.

The three Chinese warships and one Russian frigate had jointly navigated the waters between Okinawa's main island and Miyako Island out toward the Pacific on Thursday, the ministry said.

It is the first time the ministry has spotted a live-fire drill by the Chinese military within the Japanese EEZ and subsequently made it public. No damage to other ships in the area has been reported.

However, Tokyo has communicated its concern to Beijing through a diplomatic channel that conducting live-fire drills could endanger vessels navigating in nearby waters, according to the ministry.

The ministry also disclosed images purporting to show the drill as it occurred. A destroyer from Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force kept close tabs on the Chinese and Russian warships, it said.

China and Russia have been closely coordinating on the military front, including conducting joint bomber flights over waters around Japan.

Noting the recent episodes, including a submarine-launched ballistic missile test by the Chinese military earlier this month, Koizumi said, "Each of these is yet another manifestation of the deepening military cooperation between China and Russia."

He added that the security of the Indo-Pacific region is inseparable from that of Atlantic Europe, and that Japan assumes a role in bridging them.

In the speech, Koizumi also said Japan will formulate a Defense Production and Technology Base Strategy to lay out the medium- to long-term direction of the defense industry as the government works to revise a set of key national security policy documents by year-end.

The minister pledged that Japan will ensure it has enough production capacity to supply defense equipment even in the event of a prolonged contingency.

He also played up recent changes to Japan's weapons export policy that have made it possible for the country to transfer, in principle, all categories of defense assets, including fighter jets and destroyers.

"Defense industry can no longer be completed by one country alone," the minister said, adding that it is indispensable for Japan to cooperate with European partners with "exquisite technologies" in a bid to "bring together each other's strengths" and build resilient supply chains together.

Koizumi attended the airshow as Japan and Britain work on developing a next-generation fighter jet with Italy -- a multinational project called the Global Combat Air Program.