TOKYO: The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning sailed through waters east of the island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, Japan’s top government spokesperson said on Monday.

Japan would strengthen surveillance and gather necessary information, Chief Cabinet Secretary HAYASHI Yoshimasa told a regular press briefing in Tokyo. Japan has also sent “an appropriate message” to China, Hayashi said without elaborating.

Iwo Jima is located 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo.

A statement by Japan’s Joint Staff over the weekend said that the Liaoning, accompanied by some other ships, sailed in the sea within Japan’s exclusive economic zone near Minamitorishima, a remote island east of Iwo Jima.

Japan also confirmed fighter jets and helicopters taking off and landing from Liaoning in the waters southeast of Iwo Jima on Sunday.

China’s foreign ministry on Monday defended the aircraft carrier’s voyage as “fully in line with international law and practice.”

Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular press briefing that China had “always pursued a defensive national defence policy” and urged Japan to look at the issue “objectively and rationally.”

Reuters