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Japan denies drill with US simulated Chinese invasion

Japan's navy yesterday denied a report that Japan and the US held a drill simulating a Chinese invasion of disputed islands held by Tokyo during recent joint naval exercises.

The US and Japan sent a flotilla of warships -- including the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and its battle group -- off Japan's southern coast for a week of war games in the middle of last month called Annualex 18G, their largest joint naval exercise of the year.

One of the drills addressed a hypothetical Chinese military invasion of a group of uninhabited islands called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese that Beijing also claims, Kyodo News agency said, citing unidentified Japanese and US officials.

The drill was carried out using colors rather than names to designate the countries involved to avoid giving the impression that a specific country was being viewed as the enemy, Kyodo said. China was designated as "orange," Japan as "blue" and the US as "green," it said.

Maritime Self-Defense Forces spokesman Hiromitsu Hanada denied the report, saying the Annualex exercises were not directed at defending against any specific country or threat.

Phones rang unanswered at offices of US Forces Japan and US Naval Forces Japan yesterday.

Japan claimed the islands in 1895 when it colonized Taiwan, but the US controlled them after World War II and returned them to Japan in 1972. Taiwan also claims the islands as its territory.

Though China and Japan have vibrant economic links, they are at odds over a variety of issues including undersea gas and oil deposits and Japanese officials' visits to a Tokyo war shrine that honors executed war criminals.

Japan's Defense Agency lists China's military expansion as a top security concern in the region. Chinese defense spending has jumped by double-digit percentages since the early 1990s, and Foreign Minister Taro Aso has repeatedly called China a threat -- drawing angry protests from Beijing.
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