Since September 8, 2013, China’s military bombers, frigates, and drones have been going in and out of the airspace and waters in the area of the first island chain.
On the morning of September 8, two Chinese Navy H-6 bombers flew a training mission between the two main islands of Okinawa and Miyako in the Western Pacific.
On September 8 and 9, two Chinese navy frigates sailed to the East China Sea from the Pacific Ocean passing between Okinawa and Miyako Islands.
On September 9, a Chinese drone flew over the airspace near the Diaoyu Islands while the Chinese army had an exercise in the East China Sea.
The Chinese military activities heightened Japan’s alertness. Japan’s defense ministry issued a "special order to be alert to China." Song Xiaojun, a Chinese military expert and special commentator for CCTV commented on the Chinese military activities in an interview with CCTV. Song said that the area about 200 km deep along the coastlines on the East China Sea are the Chinese enclave of wealth and the activities of China’s military aircraft and warships beyond the first island chain are to build a security zone to protect the wealth of China’s coastal area. Song stressed that this is very normal behavior.
Source: People’s Daily, September 10, 2013
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/0910/c1011-22868640.html