China said it had dispatched warships to test “operational capabilities” in the western Pacific on the same day that Japan for the first time joined a massive annual display of military strength by the US and Philippines. China’s deployment of a naval destroyer group, which it described as a routine training drill, follows months of rising tensions with Japan and what it views as Tokyo’s more assertive military positioning under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. In a statement published on Sunday, the People’s Liberation Army said it had sent the task group, led by a Type 052D destroyer, to transit the Yokoate Waterway, which lies between Japan’s south-western Amami Oshima island and the uninhabited volcanic island of Yokoate.

Full report : Beijing deploys naval destroyer group on same day Tokyo joins annual US-Philippine military drills.