China says warships were on scheduled cruising exercise

"were on a scheduled cruising exercise and were acting in a manner that was “appropriate and legal.”

Translation: "Got to be ready to invade Japanese islands at any moment."

Saber, meet hand, hand start rattling.

You have to love the simple nature of PRC propaganda. The only people who believe are 10 year old school kids and the brainwashed.

They are just learning from Uncle Sam: oh we take no sides and we want peace in AP but our defense industry has to "output" and we definitely seek profits in such export, as long as the "stirring up" is far far away from our west coast. Avoiding typhoon of not, it's a counter action, it's legitimate given what they are countering.

Hell of a timing to go on an exercise. And they couldnt do this exercise somewhere else? Why in these waters? Smells like provocation to me, just eaiting for the Japanese to make one little mistake.

Underscoring China’s sharper stance, it also protested the scrambling of a Japanese military plane in the direction of the disputed islands, calling that a “gross violation” of Chinese sovereign rights.

Oh so Yonaguni is a part of China's 'sovereign rights' as well now?

this is a clearly sign of china to bully the smaller , to bet if china dare to do this with vietnam , the US , or russia . but it mouth is barking to maintain peace to keep benefit to asia pacific country . hyenas china is barking too loud to annoy the surrounding area . i would suggest china to suck fade behavior mouth up

Chinese websites were abuzz Monday with photographs of navy pilots practicing touch-and-go landing exercises on China’s first aircraft carrier. It wasn’t clear when the pictures were taken, and they did not appear on the Defense Ministry’s website or in official media.

99% chance it's another Top Gun video clip, or at best one of the russian stock footage videos they hacked together.

Increasing tension is against the bigger trends of regional security, peace and the buildup of political and security trust It was that Tokyo mayor Ishihara Shintaro said face to face with Mr Noda and Mr Maehara that :Japan should have wars with China! The DPJ is cooperating with Shintaro's attempt and the fact is Shintaro has run a coup in Japan overtaken the nation's administration power with the backing from 'Heritage foundation'! China ahs never bullying Japan but Japan is robbing China's isalnd! Whats wrong is China sending warships to defend her sovereignity, who is bullying who at present? No countries has admitted japan's legitiamcy over her claims of Senkaku?Diayoutai islannds, not USA! I said the PLA navy activities is a' police action', it just came too little too late, yes those were Chinese government's faults!

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura has urged Beijing to “avoid any actions that would go counter to the mutual benefit.” Please do not and no need to 'disguise' as 'INNOCENCES'! Everyone knows the DPJ collaborated with Ishaihara Shintaro's warmongering languages and what Mr Noda doing is compliance to the Heritage foundation backed Maverik Shintaro! America is provoking Japan goes to war with China! Who is the real power broker in Japan? Was that a 'responsible' country behaves? The Japanese government has never backtracking Ishihara's warmongering languages and thats why China's navy must response in advance!

It was unclear if their mission was directly related to the territorial issue, or whether they were trying to avoid an approaching typhoon.

Probably the latter. Famous for pandas, not for nautical prowess.

They are just learning from Uncle Sam:

About damn time.

This isn't saber-rattling. Threatening nuclear war and pledging to fight even if it means the home team gets killed doing it, that's saber-rattling. This is, finally, a subtle display of power, perfectly legit, absolutely routine, and very much a clear message.

Good on you, China. Still don't agree with you, but can't fault you for making a statement.

kurumazakaOct. 17, 2012 - 01:32PM JST

Folks, anyone who has ever served in a navy will tell you that this stuff is routine. This is really no big deal. We're it not for the Senkaku dispute, this Chinese battle group would not even be newsworthy. They did not enter Japanese waters. The Japanese side let the Chinese know that they knew they were there. That's it. The Chinese navy has every right to cruise through international waters and the MSDF has every right to keep an eye on them. Get used to this sort of thing. It does not mean war is imminent. Just two navies (three with the USN) keeping tabs on each other.

It's routine if:

1) It is announced

2) Don't then publicly dispute the sovereignty of the island you pass by and accuse the administrator of the island of escalating affairs when all they did was send eyes up over international waters.

While the ships moving through is certainly routine, the Chine's government's reaction most certainly isn't.

They were conducting war games for the upcoming invasion of Taiwan.

Sorry no matter how many times China claims the moon, it is still the moon, and belongs to no one. In this case, no matter how many times they may try to put some kind of legitimacy to their wish for a claim to these Japanese islands they belong to Japan now, sorry. The owner sold them to a buyer and that is that. end of story.

Unfortunately, Japan has partially interpret the U.S. positions, in order to seek support to claim sovereignty over the Senkau/Diaoyu Islands from the U.S. Japan utilized this as a guarantee for defending the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, especially when conflicts break out with China. Currently, this “assurance” obviously promotes Japan’s confidence in escalating the tension. However, the truth is that the Japanese side deliberately neglect the other side of signals from the U.S.

Few years ago, China’s leadership was focused on economic development, not military strength. Since about 2005, however, China has pursued a much more assertive, less cooperative foreign policy. China has made efforts at slowing progress in the East Asian Summit where the U.S. has some influence. Most importantly, China has taken an aggressive stance on a series of territorial issues and China has adopted very aggressive policies toward Japan.

What should we make of more strident Chinese foreign policy? It is possible that, because of censorship and government control in China, many of the Chinese leadership and the Chinese public more broadly actually believe that the Senkaku/Daioyu Islands and the entire South China Sea belong to China. However, the leadership in China and the top figures all have access to foreign sources. They know that China’s claims are overstated.

What does this tell us about the bigger issues in Chinese foreign policy? Have the Chinese misjudged the advantages of use of coercion? I don’t know the Chinese leadership’s views on these issues, but the recent trend casts doubt on the idea that economics is China’s principal concern.