The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships were spotted circling Japan for days in an apparent show of force amid Japan’s missile defense system deployment on an island near Taiwan.
Japan’s defense ministry said on May 11 that a Chinese naval flotilla, led by the PLA’s Type 055 guided missile destroyer Lhasa, has been spotted sailing around Japan-controlled islands from April 30.
The flotilla was first spotted traversing Japan’s Tsushima Strait on April 30. The ministry said the Chinese warships sailed through the Tsugaru Strait from May 5 to 6, and then in the Izu island chain—which lies south of Tokyo—on May 11….