Japan

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Japan's Navy spots Chinese submarine off southern coast

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TOKYO, Nov. 12 — A Japanese patrol plane spotted a Chinese submarine near Japan's southernmost main island Wednesday, the first such sighting so close to the country's shores, the military said.

The attack submarine had surfaced and was heading west in international waters 25 miles off the coast of Satamisaki, a port town on Kyushu at 8 a.m., Japan's Navy said. It sailed through the Osumi strait between Kyushu and Tanegashima, a tiny southern Japanese island.
The Navy announced the sighting because it was the first time Japan has visually detected a Chinese submarine so close to its coast, said Lt. Cmdr. Yoshiyuki Ueno. Japan didn't know what the vessel was doing, Ueno said.
The ship was identified as a 2,113-ton, Ming class attack submarine. Such submarines have diesel-electric engines and are 250 feet long.

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