China rejects Japan's protest over joint drills with Russia

China has rejected Japan's protest over recent joint military exercises with Russia, calling Tokyo's objections groundless, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian has said.

In a post on X, he noted that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Okinotori is a rock, not an island, and therefore cannot claim an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or a continental shelf, Caliber.Az reports.

"By fear-mongering, Japan is seeking to legitimize its remilitarization and undo the postwar order. The international community must jointly push back this dangerous pursuit," the Foreign Ministry added.

China rejects Japan’s baseless “protest” over China-Russia joint drills.

By UNCLOS definition, Okinotori is a rock, not an island, and thus unfit to claim EEZ or continental shelf.

By fear-mongering, Japan is seeking to legitimize its remilitarization and undo the postwar… pic.twitter.com/Y1Lt32ztNH

— CHINA MFA Spokesperson 中国外交部发言人 (@MFA_China) July 21, 2026

Earlier, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi made it clear that the Chinese and Russian navies had conducted live-fire exercises over the weekend within Japan's exclusive economic zone.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov