China Conducts Live-Fire Drill in Japan's Claimed EEZ Near Okinotori

Pro-China narrative

Okinotori is a reef, not an island, and under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, it generates zero entitlement to an EEZ or continental shelf. China and Russia's joint naval exercises in those high seas are fully lawful, and Japan has no legal standing to protest. Tokyo is exploiting this incident to justify accelerated remilitarization and drag NATO into an Asia-Pacific confrontation.