Kyodo News-Xi Let Missiles Fall In Japan EEZ During Taiwan Drills

Japan'sKyodo News reportingthat according to its unnamed sources, Chinese President Xi Jinping allowed PLA missiles to fall into Japan's exclusive economic zone waters during recent military drills around Taiwan " to deter Tokyo's interference in any cross-strait contingency".

• Xi, who heads up China's Central Military Commission, is also alleged to have shelved plans to alter the drills to avoid overlapping with Japan's EEZ in order to make the exercises more 'combat oriented'.
• Kyodo: "One of the sources said Xi adopted the plan covering Japan's EEZ to warn the Kishida administration against strengthening Tokyo's involvement in the Taiwan Strait by bolstering its security alliance with the US."
• Sino-Japanese relations have deteriorated notably in recent weeks, with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations taking place in the autumn unlikely to receive much fanfare.
• Following the joint G7 foreign ministers' letter criticising China's drills around Taiwan, Chinese FM Wang Yi cancelled a planned meeting with his Japanese counterpart on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.