China's naval exercises in East China Sea: Warning to regional rivals

China held naval exercises in the East China Sea today in a robust show of military force intended to warn regional rivals against escalating territorial disputes.

China regularly holds maritime drills in the fall, but "sources close to the military" said the drills were related to a territorial dispute that has been the source of recent flare-up between China and Japan, the Financial Times reports.

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Japan and China have long been at odds over a string of islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, but tensions ratcheted up last month when the Japanese government agreed to buy three of the islands that were privately owned by a Japanese businessman.

Read more on Chinese Naval Exercises at Christian Science Monitor

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China warns US naval exercise may lead to conflict

TENSIONS OVER disputed areas in the South China Sea continued to intensify at the weekend as China warned the United States that its joint naval exercise in the region has raised the risk of armed confrontation.

China has territorial disputes with practically everyone in the region about the South China Sea, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan, and defence experts believe that the next conflict in the region will probably relate to one or other of these issues.

Recent weeks have seen a maritime standoff between the Philippines and China in disputed sovereign seas near the Scarborough Shoal, west of a former US navy base at Subic Bay.

Read more: Irish Times

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