(Reuters Photo)Japan's largest warship steamed into the South China Sea this week in defiance of Chinese assertiveness, with Asian military guests 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. Japan worries that China is cementing its control in the South China Sea with manmade island bases, arms sales and development aid. The Izumo turned back to Singapore before crossing a boundary known as the nine-dash-line into what China claims are its waters. While the US has confronted China directly by sending warships close to China's island bases in the South China Sea, Japan so far has shied away from similar provocations.

Source: Bangkok Post June 23, 2017 13:52 UTC