Japan’s largest warship, the Izumo, steamed into the South China Sea this week in defiance of China, with military guests from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on board to witness helicopters looping over the tropical waters and gunners blasting target buoys.
China claims most of the energy-rich sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, much of it to and from Japanese ports.
Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
Military officers from the 10-member ASEAN boarded the 248-meter carrier in Singapore on Monday (June 19).
The officers from ASEAN seemed to have been impressed, especially with regard to the disaster response capability of the ship.
“You have great facility here, you have a very good facility for disaster response, or cooperation with other countries,” said Philippine Navy Lieutenant Benitez Ernan.
The Japanese ship returned on Friday (June 23) after demonstrating naval skills. Tokyo hopes it will help bolster its alliances in the region.
The Izumo turned back to Singapore before crossing a boundary known as the nine-dash-line into what China claims are its waters.
“We are not just here to show our presence, but ultimately that may be what it looks like from the outside,” said mission commander Rear Admiral Yoshihiro Goga
The high-profile cruise was part of a hitherto unseen coordinated push by Japan’s Self Defense Forces and defense bureaucrats to bolster ties with countries ringing the contested waters. It also marked a concerted push into military diplomacy by Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Izumo helicopter carrier was unveiled in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan in August 2013.
The Washington Post even noted that this ship, the biggest warship in Japan’s fleet since World War II, “has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier.”
(based on a Reuters report)
