TOKYO: The Japanese government Wednesday heightened its surveillance over possible further Chinese military activities, following Beijing’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile the same day.

Although the missile was not found to have flown over Japan or damaged Japan-linked ships, Tokyo is rushing to assess China’s intentions and future actions as the Chinese military is stepping up its movements around Japan.

“There have been no reports of damage to Japan-related ships,” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters in the city of Saitama, north of Tokyo, Wednesday afternoon. “We will continue gathering and analyzing information on Chinese military movements and implement all available surveillance measures.”

The Japan Coast Guard received a notification from Chinese authorities Monday regarding planned “falling space debris.” In response, it issued navigation warnings for three locations–waters northwest of the Philippine island of Luzon, waters east of the island and waters in the South Pacific–between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesday.

China’s ICBM is believed to have flown over the sites. The Defense Ministry said the missile has not been reported to have flown over Japan.

The Chinese military has been increasingly active near Japan.

A military intelligence aircraft and a survey ship violated Japanese airspace and territorial waters, respectively, in late August, while the aircraft carrier Liaoning sailed in the contiguous zone just outside Japanese waters off the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa on Sept. 18.

On Monday, eight Chinese and Russian military vessels sailed through the Soya Strait, which separates the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido and Russia’s Sakhalin.

Many in the Defense Ministry believe that China’s ICBM launch differs from these incidents as it was apparently not carried out with Japan in mind.

“Japan has a leadership election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, while the United States is dealing with its presidential election and the Middle East situation,” a senior Self-Defense Force official said. “It’s important that the region is not viewed as having a ‘power vacuum.'”

JIJI Press