While the U.S. and Japan are monitoring North Korea in the East China Sea for illegal ship-to-ship transfers of supplies, China is sending warships to keep them in check. China usually sends warships to keep an eye on U.S. and Japanese ships one-on-one, and tailing operations are becoming normalized, sometimes with military exercises, more than 10 ships are deployed.
Japan’s Sankei Shimbun quoted a number of Japanese government sources said, in order to prevent North Korea in the sea ship-to-ship transfer of goods (Ship-to-ship cargotransfer), The Japanese Self-Defense Force and the U.S. military sent two ships each to monitor, if the Australian or British military involved in surveillance operations, will send a ship, forming five ships in the surveillance, and China will send warships to follow the U.S. and Japan and other countries ships.
The report said that recently if U.S. and Japanese ships entered the waters of China’s air defense identification zone, which was unilaterally delineated in November 2013, almost simultaneously Chinese warships would appear and start trailing.
The U.S. Department of Defense analyzed that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with about 350 ships, is the world’s largest, and that Chinese naval operations tend to be active, including holding back the U.S. and Japan from monitoring North Korea’s maritime operations.
In addition to the U.S. and Japan, other countries involved in monitoring North Korea’s illegal maritime transit include South Korea, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and New Zealand.
North Korea’s development and launch of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles has led to a UN Security Council resolution that prevents the import of rocks and coal, so North Korea has resorted to ship-to-ship transshipment by sea.
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