China Warships to Hold Pacific Drills as Japan Tensions Rise

China has sent a group of warships to hold drills in the western Pacific Ocean, a move that comes as Japan for the first time joins massive exercises with the US and the Philippines, highlighting growing tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

The Chinese navy dispatched a naval task group led by the Type 052D destroyer Baotou to transit between Japan’s Amami Oshima and Yokoate islands and conduct training in the Western Pacific, according to a statement from the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command on Sunday.