Japan says a Chinese naval vessel carries out live-fire drills inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone for the first time, marking an escalation in maritime activity near the Okinotorishima area. According to Japanese sources, Tokyo releases images showing a Chinese destroyer firing a machine gun near Okinotorishima over the weekend. Japan Times describes the exercise as rare and emphasizes that Tokyo publicly discloses the drill, indicating the action occurs within the boundaries of Japan’s economic waters. The Yahoo! UK News report similarly characterizes the event as the first time a Chinese warship conducts live-fire drills in Japan’s economic waters. Both accounts frame the incident as a notable departure from prior patterns of Chinese maritime operations in the region and highlight Okinotorishima as the location where the firing occurs. The reports focus on Japan’s disclosure and the drill’s circumstances but do not provide additional details on the duration of the exercise, the type or number of rounds, or any statements from China in the excerpts provided.