China, Russia conducted firing drill in Japan's economic waters: Tokyo

Chinese and Russian naval forces conducted a joint live-firing exercise within Japan's exclusive economic zone using machine guns, Tokyo said Tuesday, decrying a threat that Beijing dismissed as "hyped up".

The incident on Sunday was the first time that Japan's defence ministry has spotted a live-fire drill by China within its exclusive economic zone and disclosed it, according to Japanese media.

Tokyo sees the drill as part the Chinese and Russian militaries moving "toward strengthening their cooperation", Japan's top government spokesperson Minoru Kihara told a Tuesday briefing.

Relations between Japan and China have worsened since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi angered Beijing in November with comments about Taiwan.

On Sunday, the Chinese navy's Luyang III-class missile destroyer was seen conducting the exercise 180 kilometres (110 miles) southwest of the Okinotori island, Japan's southernmost territory, alongside a Russian naval vessel, officials said.

A fleet comprising three Chinese ships and a Russian navy frigate was first sighted at around 2:00 am (1700 GMT Saturday) 330 kilometres southwest of the island, heading northeast.

Japan told Beijing via diplomatic channels that the drill "could have endangered the navigation of nearby ships", according to Kihara.

China's foreign ministry called the accusations "completely groundless".

"Japan has smeared and hyped up the legitimate and lawful activities of other countries, exaggerating external threats," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday, adding that "China firmly rejects them".

Chinese and Russian air forces jointly flew bombers over waters around Japan last month, while their navies also conducted a joint exercise this month.

The latest live-firing drill prompted Tokyo to mobilise by air and sea to surveil and monitor the situation, Kihara said.

"We will continue to monitor with concern the behaviours by Chinese and Russian vessels in the waters around our country," he told reporters.

Ships from Japan's and China's coast guards faced off near disputed islands this month, with each claiming they drove out the other's vessels that had intruded into their territorial waters.

The incident took place near uninhabited islands claimed as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, which sit between Taiwan and Okinawa and have been caught in diplomatic tensions for decades.

Prime Minister Takaichi angered Beijing in November when she suggested that Japan could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.

Under Takaichi, Japan has also accelerated its pivot towards a more proactive defence policy, further shaking off -- with US encouragement -- a pacifist outlook in place since the end of World War II.