Japan's military monitors Russian submarine spotted near Taiwan

Japan’s military said it dispatched a surveillance aircraft and a navy ship on Tuesday after spotting a Russian submarine off the coast of a southwestern island near Taiwan.

The Russian Kilo-class submarine was sighted 50 kilometres south of Yonaguni Island, Japan’s westernmost territory just east of Taiwan, according to the Japanese Joint Staff.

The submarine, accompanied by a Russian naval vessel, was moving northeast between Yonaguni and the nearby island of Iriomote. It was the first sighting of a Russian submarine in those waters, the Joint Staff said in a statement.

Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) deployed a combat support vessel and a P-3 surveillance aircraft to conduct warning and reconnaissance operations. There was no breach of Japan’s territorial waters by the Russian warships, the military said.

The incident occurred just one day after the Philippine military reported the sighting of a Kilo-class Russian submarine in the South China Sea. 

Japan is increasingly concerned about China’s expanding military presence near its waters and airspace, and has significantly bolstered its defences in the area, which includes strategically important remote islands.

Joint military activity between Russia and China has further heightened Japan’s vigilance.

The sighting follows a pattern of increased activity in the area. On Sunday, a Chinese warship was observed sailing east of Miyako Island, another remote southwestern Japanese island. 

In September, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, accompanied by two destroyers, sailed between Yonaguni and Iriomote, entering Japan’s contiguous zone — a maritime area just outside territorial waters where limited control over traffic is permitted.