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A Chinese PLA Navy destroyer conducted a live-fire drill on 19 July 2026 within waters Japan claims as its Exclusive Economic Zone around Okinotori Island, alongside two other Chinese warships and a Russian frigate; Japan's Defence Minister publicly disclosed the detection on 20 July 2026, calling it the first such disclosure.
Japan lodged a protest, calling the drill a safety risk to nearby vessels; China rejected the protest, arguing Okinotori is a 'rock' under international law that cannot generate an EEZ.
Okinotori is an uninhabited atoll in the Philippine Sea, part of Japan's Ogasawara Islands group and its southernmost territory, lying roughly midway between Taiwan and the US territory of Guam.
The dispute turns on Article 121 of UNCLOS, which denies rocks that cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own an EEZ or continental shelf — a classification China asserts and Japan rejects for Okinotori.
An 'island' generates its own territorial sea, EEZ (up to 200 nautical miles) and continental shelf, like any other land territory
'Rocks' that cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own do NOT generate an EEZ or continental shelf
The Permanent Court of Arbitration's Philippines v. China ruling similarly examined whether disputed features qualified as islands or rocks under UNCLOS
India's own Indo-Pacific outlook emphasises freedom of navigation and a rules-based maritime order, relevant to disputes like this one
GS Paper II/III > International Relations, UNCLOS, Indo-Pacific Geopolitics
A maritime zone up to 200 nautical miles from a coastal state's baseline, within which it has exclusive rights over natural resources
Defines islands and rocks, and denies rocks unable to sustain human habitation/economic life their own EEZ or continental shelf