Japan on alert as Chinese warships cruise close to shores in tensest climate since WWII
Japan on alert as Chinese warships cruise close to shores in tensest climate since WWII
Somaiyah Hafeez Thu, September 3, 2026 at 8:47 PM UTC
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China has been growing its military power, pressing maritime claims across eastern Asia, and pushing deeper into the Western Pacific (Image: Getty)
Chinese destroyers are passing close to the Japanese island of Amami-Oshima, with Japanese surveillance recording 10 occurrences this year - a stark increase from zero transits in 2025 and on path to exceed the 15 recorded in 2024 - according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal.
"It's a provocation for sure," Takuya Matsuda, an international security scholar at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, told the outlet. Officials have also described the development as the most severe security environment since World War II, according to the outlet.
China has been growing its military power, pressing maritime claims across eastern Asia, and pushing deeper into the Western Pacific.
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China's deepening alliance with North Korea and Russia, both bordering Japan, has further raised concerns about Japan's security. (Image: Getty)
In 2025, China increased its defense budget 7.2%, as it continued its campaign to build a larger, more modern military to assert its territorial claims and challenge the U.S. defense lead in Asia.
China's military spending remains the second largest behind the U.S., and it already has the world's largest navy.
China's deepening alliance with North Korea and Russia, both bordering Japan, has further raised concerns about Japan's security.
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North Korea has focused heavily on shorter-range missiles, including tactical nukes, designed to threaten neighboring Japan and South Korea in recent years.
"Japanese officials said the Russian military has expanded its movements in the sea and air around Japan - including by performing live missile drills near the southern Kuril Islands, which are claimed by both Russia and Japan," the Journal report read.
"At the same time, the countries have stepped up rhetoric disparaging Japan's militaristic past, saying that the country's efforts to strengthen its defenses are similar to its World War II aggression."
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Meanwhile, since President Trump returned to the Oval Office, Japan's U.S. alliance has come under pressure. Trump has railed against nations he considers freeloading off the U.S., criticizing countries, including Japan, for failing to help the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier this year, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sought to reaffirm her alliance with President Donald Trump after the president seemed to complain that Japan was among the nations that did not quickly join his call to help protect the strait.
Takaichi, who met with Trump at the White House, told the Republican president that Japan has opposed Iran's development of its nuclear program and appealed to his desire to be seen as a peacemaker, despite his launching a war of choice with Iran. She told the U.S. president through an interpreter that in the Middle East and around the world now, there was "a very severe security environment," but said, "Even against that backdrop, I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world."
Source: “AOL Breaking”
