Japan conducts first submarine drill in SCS

TOKYO: Japan has carried out its first submarine drill in the South China Sea, a newspaper said yesterday, a move that could provoke Beijing which claims most of the disputed waters.

Submarine Kuroshio on Thursday joined three Japanese warships in waters just southwest of the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, the Asahi Shimbun said.

China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion (RM20.6 trillion) in shipping trade passes annually, despite competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Tensions have been high over the Scarborough Shoal since it was seized from Manila by Beijing in 2012.

The newspaper said the submarine exercises were Tokyo’s first in the South China Sea.

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force carried out a “practical” anti-submarine drill, including an exercise to spot enemy submarines with sonar devices, Asahi said, quoting unnamed Japanese government sources.

The sources said it was a legitimate naval exercise in neutral waters, with rights of access secured under international law.

Following the drill, the Japanese submarine planned to make a port call yesterday at Cam Ranh, central Vietnam, in a bid to display Tokyo’s defence cooperation with Hanoi, Asahi said.

It will be the first call by a submarine at the strategically important port since the World War 2, it added.