Japan said that China maneuvered its largest destroyer into the Sea of Japan on March 18 and 19. Although the ship didn’t enter Japanese territorial waters, it is the first time that Beijing has made its presence known in the Sea of Japan. Japan’s defense ministry said on March 19 that it was monitoring the vessel’s route to analyze the purpose of the cruise. Then, on March 21, the Philippines demanded that around 220 Chinese fishing boats, which have moored for two weeks, leave a South China Sea reef claimed by Manila. “We call on the Chinese to stop this incursion and immediately recall these boats violating our maritime rights and encroaching into our sovereign territory,” Filipino Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement on Sunday. He added that the presence of the flotilla was a “provocative action of militarizing the area.” U.S.-based China Affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan said of the two incidents …