East China Sea tension: China set for naval exercises

China is set to conduct naval exercises in the East China Sea, state media report, amid heightened tensions with Japan over islands both claim.

The exercises are aimed at "sharpening response to emergencies in missions to safeguard territorial sovereignty", state-run Xinhua news agency said.

They will involve 11 ships and eight aircraft, including vessels from marine surveillance and fisheries agencies.

The agencies' ships had been "harassed" while in disputed waters, it said.

China said the exercises would take place on Friday but gave no details of the location in the East China Sea.
China, Japan and Taiwan all claim the islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Japan controls the islands, which lie south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan.

Japan's recent acquisition of three of the islands from their private Japanese owner sparked both diplomatic and public protests in China.

Since then ships from both China and Taiwan have been sailing in and out of waters around the islands, prompting warnings from Japan that an accidental clash could cause the situation to escalate.

The US has called for cooler heads to prevail in the dispute, which has rumbled on for years. US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns visited both Tokyo and Beijing this week for talks.