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By Ryan Chan
China News Reporter
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China has expanded its naval presence in the North Pacific after one of its spy ships was spotted transiting a waterway between Japan's main islands, according to a report.
Regarding China's maritime activities around Japan, the country's Ministry of Defense said on Monday that it will continue to conduct surveillance and gather intelligence.
Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry for comment.
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Why It Matters
China has built the world's largest navy by hull count, with more than 370 ships and submarines, allowing the East Asian power to expand its military presence and reach by deploying warships, including two aircraft carriers, to challenge U.S.-led alliances in the Pacific.
Under the island chain strategy conceived by the United States, Japan, part of two north-south defensive lines across the western Pacific, helps project military power to deter and defend against aggression from China, the chief adversary of Washington.
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Chinese naval vessels regularly pass through international waterways near Japan, a country that consists of four main islands and multiple outlying islands, for deployment in the wider Pacific, prompting the U.S. ally to send aircraft and ships to track them.
What To Know
Japan's Defense Ministry said on Monday that a Chinese spy ship transited the Tsugaru Strait between the main islands of Honshu and Hokkaido on Saturday as it moved from the Sea of Japan—also called the East Sea in South Korea—to the North Pacific.
The vessel, identified by its hull number as CNS Kaiyangxing, a Type 815A intelligence collection ship, was tracked sailing through the Tsushima Strait between Japan and South Korea, arriving in the Sea of Japan from the East China Sea in late September.
Both the Tsugaru Strait and the Tsushima Strait are designated by Japan as parts of five international waterways off its coastline, where territorial waters extend less than the usual 12 nautical miles (13.8 miles) from the coast to maintain high seas corridors.
Before the Kaiyangxing arrived in the North Pacific, three other Chinese naval vessels were spotted passing through the Soya Strait—also known as the La Pérouse Strait in Russia—in late September, moving into the Sea of Okhotsk from the Sea of Japan.
The vessels were identified by their hull numbers as the Type 052D destroyers CNS Huainan and CNS Kaifeng and the Type 903A replenishment ship CNS Dongpinghu. It was not immediately clear whether the Kaiyangxing was deployed in support of them.
The Soya Strait, located between Hokkaido and Russia's Sakhalin Island, is designated by Japan as an international strait. Also in late September, a Russian nuclear-capable submarine transited the strait, moving from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Sea of Japan.
What People Are Saying
Japan's defense white paper 2025 read: "China has been intensifying its activities across the entire region surrounding Japan, including in the East China Sea, particularly in the area around the Senkaku Islands, the Sea of Japan, and the western Pacific Ocean, extending beyond the so-called the first island chain to the second island chain."
Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for China's Defense Ministry, said in December 2024: "… Japan has been closely tracking, monitoring and harassing operations of Chinese vessels and aircraft, which has endangered the safety of the Chinese vessels and aircraft, and can easily trigger incidents at sea or in the air."
What Happens Next
China is likely to continue and expand its naval activities around Japan. It remains to be seen how Japan will strengthen its defense posture to protect its territorial waters.
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