Russia and China have increased military surveillance activity around Japan, deploying intelligence-gathering ships and aircraft near the country’s waters and airspace, according to Japan’s Defence Ministry.
Officials in Tokyo said on Monday that both countries had recently carried out operations close to Japanese territory. Newsweek has contacted China’s Foreign Ministry and Russia’s defence and foreign ministries for comment.
Heightened activity near Japanese territory
Japan’s Joint Staff Office reported that a Russian intelligence-gathering vessel, identified by its hull number as the Kareliya, entered the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, from the East China Sea via the Tsushima Strait between Sunday and Monday.
The Tsushima Strait, located between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, is designated by Japan as an international waterway. Under international arrangements, Japan limits its territorial waters there to approximately 13.8 miles to preserve high seas corridors.
According to maps released by the Joint Staff Office, the Kareliya first arrived in the East China Sea on 7 January after passing through the Tsushima Strait. It then operated near Japan’s southwestern outlying islands between 12 and 24 January.
As the Russian vessel moved towards Russia’s Far East, a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft was also tracked flying over the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Hokkaido, one of Japan’s four main islands. The aircraft departed from the Russian mainland west of Hokkaido before reaching the Pacific Ocean east of the island.
The Il-20 then flew south to waters off northern Honshu, Japan’s largest island, where the United States is planning to upgrade Misawa Air Base with the deployment of 48 F-35A stealth fighter jets.
Japan’s Joint Staff Office said the aircraft briefly transited airspace above a smaller island group north-east of Hokkaido. Those islands have been under Russian administration since 1945, following their seizure from Japan.
Chinese vessel transits key strait
In a separate incident on Saturday, a Chinese intelligence-collection ship, identified as CNS Beijixing, passed through the Miyako Strait between Okinawa and the Miyako Islands in Japan’s southwestern waters. The vessel then entered the Philippine Sea after transiting from the East China Sea.
During the encounters with both Russian and Chinese forces, Japan’s Air and Maritime Self-Defense Forces deployed aircraft and ships to monitor the movements.
Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the operations were likely aimed at intelligence gathering. “Given the characteristics of the ships and aircraft involved, it is conceivable that these operations are intended for some form of intelligence gathering,” he wrote on social media on Monday.
Koizumi added that Japan would continue to maintain “the utmost vigilance” in monitoring activities by Russian and Chinese forces in surrounding seas and airspace.
Growing security concerns
Russia and China, which describe their relationship as a partnership without limits, have regularly dispatched military assets near Japan in recent years, signalling their presence to both Japan and its key ally, the United States.
The increased activity comes as Japan strengthens its own military capabilities, including the introduction of stealth fighter jets and aircraft carriers, amid what Tokyo has described as the “most severe and complex” security environment of the postwar era.
Japan’s 2025 defence white paper warned that Russia continues to carry out active military operations near Japan while deploying advanced equipment in the Far East. It said Russia’s actions, combined with its strategic partnership with China, pose a significant security concern for Japan and the wider Indo-Pacific region.
What happens next
Russia and China are expected to maintain a visible military presence around Japan, particularly as the United States and Japan have recently agreed to bolster their force posture across the western Pacific.
