Looks like China and Japan want to play chicken while we're busy elsewhere. Either, the Chinese are really bad navigators or they're testing the Japanese Defense Forces abilities, for some reason.
BBC:
Japan's navy went on alert on Wednesday after an unidentified submarine was spotted inside the country's waters.
Surveillance aircraft detected the submarine near the southern island of Okinawa, and it left soon afterwards.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the submarine was spotted by a reconnaissance plane near the Sakishima island chain off Okinawa
Japanese officials refused to speculate on the submarine's nationality.
But Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted defence officials as saying it was a Chinese nuclear-powered sub.
The Sakishima islands lie about 120km (75 miles) south of the disputed Senkaku islands, which are known as the Diaoyu in Chinese.
The two sides held inconclusive talks last month on gas exploration projects in the East China Sea.
China has also reportedly been angered by a Japanese defence ministry paper which speculated on reasons China might attack.
It cited disputes over natural resources and territory, as well as a wider conflict involving Taiwan.
Posted by bushmeister0
at 11:58 PM EST
