Japan Denies Drill Simulating Chinese Invasion With U.S. Troops

Japan Denies Drill Simulating Chinese Invasion With U.S. Troops
December 30, 2006 2:15 p.m. EST

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - The Japanese Navy on Saturday denied a report that Tokyo and Washington held military war games simulating a Chinese invasion of disputed islands during a recent joint naval exercises.

In mid-November, the a flotilla of warships from the navies the U.S. and Japan, including the USS Kitty Hawk and its battle group, conducted a week of war games off Japan's southern coast. The war games, named Annualex 18G, was the largest joint naval exercise of the year between the two nations.

Kyodo news agency reported that Annuallex 18G involved a drill addressing a hypothetical Chinese military invasion of a group of uninhabited islands. Both Japan and China claim the islands named Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese. Kyodo news cited unidentified U.S. and Japanese officials as sources in the article.

The report added that the drill used colors instead of names to designate the countries involved to prevent the impression that a specific nation was being viewed as an enemy. During the drill, China was designated the color orange, Japana as blue and the U.S. as green, Kyodo reported.

But Hiromitisu Hanada, Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces spokesman denied the allegations and that Annualex exercises were not intended to defend against any specific country or threat.

In 1895, Japan colonized Taiwan and claimed the islands, the United States controlled them after World War II and returned them to Japan in 1972. Taiwan also claims the islands as part of its territory.

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