Keen to make an impression: Japan-US military drills begin amid Asian island row

Japan has launched naval drills with the US in spite of heightened tensions with China over a territorial dispute. The exercise was initially planned to simulate an island re-occupation, but was scrapped for naval operations to avoid agitating China.
The 11-day drills are aimed at boosting the defense of Japan’s southwestern island territories and will involve more than 37,000 Japanese personnel and 10,000 US forces, along with an aircraft carrier.
Operation Keen Sword was originally planned to incorporate a mission to simulate the retaking of an island. Although neither the US nor Japan specified if the mission was aimed at the disputed archipelago “it was widely perceived they had in mind the Senkaku Islands,” said Japanese newspaper Kyodo.