Japan protests after Chinese missiles land in its unique financial zone

Five ballistic missiles fired by China seem to have landed in Japan’s unique financial zone (EEZ), Japanese defence minister Nobuo Kishi mentioned on Thursday, a part of navy workouts launched by China earlier within the day.

The workouts, China’s largest ever within the Taiwan Strait, started as scheduled at noon and included live-firing within the waters to the north, south and east of Taiwan, bringing tensions within the space to their highest in 1 / 4 century.

“To have five Chinese missiles fall within Japan’s EEZ like this is a first,” Kishi instructed reporters.

“We have protested strongly through diplomatic channels.”

The zone stretches 200 nautical miles from the outer limits of Japan’s territorial seas and North Korean missiles have fallen inside a special a part of Japan’s EEZ previously, together with a number of in a flurry of launches earlier this yr.

The workouts got here two days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, the highest-ranking U.S. official to go to in 25 years, and simply hours after China mentioned a deliberate assembly between its overseas minister and Japan’s had been cancelled because of China’s displeasure with a G7 assertion urging Beijing to resolve Taiwan tensions peacefully.