Chinese navy brushes past Okinawa after Japanese transit in Taiwan Strait

China said a group of its naval vessels, including a destroyer, passed through a waterway between two islands administered by the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa on Wednesday as it returned home after testing far-seas capabilities.



Vessel formation 133 dispatched by the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command has completed its training in the Western Pacific, and has returned through the Yonaguni-Iriomote Waterway, said the command, which is responsible for East China, the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.



While non-Japanese vessels are allowed to pass through the narrow band of waters in the middle of the Yonaguni-Iriomote Waterway, Japan reserves the right to take action if vessels stray into the country's territorial sea, defined as seas 12 nautical miles (22 km) from its shoreline.



The width of the waterway is about 65 km (35 nautical miles).



On Sunday, the PLA formation sailed through the same waterway to reach the Pacific Ocean. The transit followed the passage of a Japanese destroyer through the Taiwan Strait on Friday that Beijing said was a "deliberate provocation".