China Expands Patrols East of Taiwan While Russia Test-Fires Missiles Near Islands Japan Claims

China has built a sustained maritime presence in the waters east of Taiwan since June, according to a study by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported by The Japan Times. Two Chinese law-enforcement ships have conducted continuous patrols and surveys and questioned nearly 200 commercial vessels in an area where Japan and the Philippines have overlapping maritime claims. The activity began after Tokyo and Manila agreed in May to negotiate a maritime boundary. Beijing says it holds rights in those waters and objects to the two countries negotiating a boundary without Chinese participation. Analysts cited by The Diplomat say the pattern also tests procedures that would apply in a quarantine or blockade of Taiwan.

To the north, Russia's Pacific Fleet announced on Thursday that a unit equipped with the Bastion coastal missile system had test-fired near the islands Japan calls the Northern Territories and Russia calls the Southern Kurils. The Japan Times reported that the guided missile cruiser Varyag and the nuclear-powered submarine Omsk took part, and that the exercise simulated an attack on enemy vessels at a range of at least 300 kilometers. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi called the buildup unacceptable. Russia's foreign ministry had already summoned Japan's ambassador in Moscow over Tokyo's protest against President Vladimir Putin's August 13 visit to Etorofu, the largest of the four islands. The Soviet Union took the islands in 1945 and Russia has administered them since. Japan disputes that control.

Chinese state media framed the exercises differently. Global Times quoted an expert describing Japan as increasingly isolated in Northeast Asia. A Japan Times editorial argued that actions by both allies and adversaries last week widened the uncertainty facing Tokyo's own defense planning. The two positions describe the same fact from opposing perspectives: Japan now faces pressure on two maritime flanks at once, and it is spending accordingly, with roughly ¥9 trillion allocated to defense in the current budget.