Five ballistic missiles fired by China appear to have landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Japanese defence minister Nobuo Kishi said on Thursday, part of military exercises launched by China earlier in the day.

Japanese ministry officials said that the missiles fell southwest of Hateruma Island in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa. One missile that landed outside Japan’s economic zone fell at a point only some 80 kilometers from Yonaguni Island in Okinawa, Japanese ministry officials said.

A map depicting the landing sites of the missiles were released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense, who ensured the Japanese public that “the Ministry of Defense and the Self-Defense Forces will continue to make every effort to collect and analyze information and conduct warning and surveillance.”

1 .中国は、本日１５時頃から１６時過ぎにかけて９発の弾道ミサイルを発射した模様です。
そのうち５発が我が国の排他的経済水域（ＥＥＺ）内に落下したものと推定されます。https://t.co/GIqSsRacBr pic.twitter.com/I2Nb4V6knG

— 防衛省・自衛隊 (@ModJapan_jp) August 4, 2022

The exercises, China’s largest ever in the Taiwan Strait, began as scheduled at midday and included live-firing in the waters to the north, south and east of Taiwan, bringing tensions in the area to their highest in a quarter century.

It was the first time that Chinese ballistic missiles landed in Japan’s EEZ, according to the Defense Ministry. There have been no reports of damage to Japanese aircraft or ships.

At a press conference, Kishi condemned the missile launches as a serious incident affecting Japan’s security and its people’s safety.

“To have five Chinese missiles fall within Japan’s EEZ like this is a first,” Kishi told reporters.

“We have protested strongly through diplomatic channels.”

Additionally, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori lodged a protest with Chinese Ambassador to Japan Kong Xuanyou over the phone. Mori criticized the missile launches and demanded China immediately stop the military exercise.

The zone stretches 200 nautical miles from the outer limits of Japan’s territorial seas and North Korean missiles have fallen within a different part of Japan’s EEZ in the past, including several in a flurry of launches earlier this year.

The exercises came two days after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit in 25 years, and just hours after China said a planned meeting between its foreign minister and Japan’s had been cancelled due to China’s displeasure with a G7 statement urging Beijing to resolve Taiwan tensions peacefully.

Reuters/JIJI Press