Defense Minister Taro Kono said Tuesday that a submarine detected near southwestern Japanese islands last week was believed to be Chinese, making a rare announcement concerning the nationality of a foreign submarine that did not intrude into territorial waters.
Kono told a news conference that Japan has confirmed the submerged submarine was traveling from the northeast of Kagoshima Prefecture's Amami-Oshima Island to the west of Yokoate Island, moving "in the direction of China" through the contiguous zone, or a band of waters adjacent to territorial waters, from Thursday through Saturday.
"Taking into total consideration the various information we've obtained thus far, we assumed that the submarine belongs to China," Kono said, adding the vessel did not violate Japanese territorial waters.