CHINA-JAPAN: PLA NAVY FLOTILLA SAILS THROUGH SEA OF JAPAN FOR SECOND TIME THIS YEAR
|
The Global Times (August 24) reported that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) dispatched a powerful naval flotilla led by a Type 055 large destroyer to the Sea of Japan for the second time this year on August 22. It quoted Chinese military experts as saying on August 24 that this will send a warning to Japanese right-wing forces and militarists. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted a PLA Navy flotilla consisting of three warships, namely the Type 055 guided missile destroyer Nanchang, the Type 052D guided-missile destroyer Guiyang and a Type 903A comprehensive supply ship with the hull number of 903, which passed through the Tsushima Strait and sailed toward the Sea of Japan on August 22. The move follows the visit by some senior politicians of Japan to honour World War II war martyrs at the Yasukuni Shrine and Japan's defence paper on questions involving the island of Taiwan and the Diaoyu Islands. Chinese military analysts said with more Type 055 large destroyers entering service with the PLA Navy, similar voyages are expected to become frequent.
|