By Li Hongmei

A submarine from unknown nation was detected by a P-3C patrol aircraft from the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force on May. 12 near the Kume islands, Okinawa, People's Daily cited Kyodo News as reporting on its website.

Source from the Japanese defense ministry told Kyodo News that the submarine was in all likelihood deployed by China's PLA Navy. Chinese warships began to conduct naval exercises in the waters around Okinawa after the Japanese government "nationalized" the Diaoyu Islands last September.

On Jan. 31 this year, a missile destroyer and two missile frigates from the PLA Navy penetrated the waterway between the islands of Okinawa and Miyako after conducting drills in the Yellow Sea. The Chinese defense ministry stated that the PLA vessels are only conducting routine training in the Okinawan waters without targeting any country in the region as their enemy.

The emergence of a suspected Chinese submarine near the Okinawan waters can still be very sensitive from the perspective of Japan, especially in light of a recent article from China's flagship newspaper the People's Daily challenging Japanese ownership of Okinawa. The source told the Kyodo News that the unknown submarine was detected "close to the Japanese territorial waters, "though the vessel did not cross the border.