Revealed: Shots Fired After Japanese Destroyer Breached Chinese Waters

This weekend, Japan’s Kyodo news cited high level diplomatic sources who revelaed for the first time a dangerous event between Chinese and Japanese naval vessels which unfolded a year ago. In July 2024, Chinese naval vessels fired at least two warning shots at a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyer after it unintentionally entered Chinese territorial waters off Zhejiang Province, a coastal region in East China

The destroyer, Suzutsuki, was described as monitoring Chinese military exercises in international waters when the incident occurred. The Japanese government sources seem to be admitting that it was the fault of the Japese vessel, as the explanation given in Kyodo is that the ship’s electronic navigation system failed to display territorial boundaries.

The destroy thus ‘uknowingly’ and inadvertently hcrossed directly into Chinese territorial waters, having come within 12 nautical miles (about 22 kilometers) of China’s coast for approximately 20 minutes on July 4.

Kyodo relates based on its sources:

After repeatedly urging the Japanese destroyer to change course, the Chinese vessels fired a warning shot just before the Suzutsuki entered Chinese territorial waters and another after it had crossed into the area, the sources said.

After Beijing logded formal protest over the incurion, Japan is reported to have ‘unofficially explained’ to Chinese officials that the captain was unware he had breached Chinese waters due to the technical malfunction. 

Underscoring how serious an incident it was, Japan’s MSDF subsequently dismissed the destroyer’s captain due to neglegence, and has kept its internal investigation into the incident a secret.

However, Japanese officials are at the same time deeply uneasey that China’s PLA Navy so quickly reverted to use of force in the form of live-fire warning rounds.

The Kyodo report came out on Sunday, and interestingly just a day later, on Monday, there was another major incident involving the Chinese PLA Navy and other regional US ally, The Phillippines. 

Dramatic footage emerged showing two Chinese navy vessels colliding while chasing a Philippine patrol boat near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea – an area which has emerged as a geopolitical flashpoint between Manila and Beijing. 

“The (China Coast Guard vessel) CCG 3104, which was chasing the (Filipino coast guard vessel) BRP Suluan at high speed, performed a risky manoeuvre from the (Philippine) vessel’s starboard quarter, leading to the impact with the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy warship,” Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) officer Jay Tarriela said in a statement, quoted by AFP News. 

“This resulted in substantial damage to the CCG vessel’s forecastle, rendering it unseaworthy,” Tarriela said, in a truly bizarre and somewhat unprecedented incident, illustrating the continued militarization of these disputed waters.