A Chinese aircraft carrier entered Japan's contiguous waters for the first time on Wednesday, Japan's defence ministry said, the latest in a string of military manoeuvres that has ratcheted up tensions between the neighbours.

Tokyo has lodged a protest with Beijing after a PLA aircraft carrier took a new route to the Pacific Ocean that brought it close to its outlying islands. China’s Liaoning carrier and two Type 052D guided-missile destroyers sailed from the East China Sea into Japan’s contiguous zones passing between the islands of Yonaguni and Iriomote on Tuesday and Wednesday,

A Chinese aircraft carrier entered Japan’s contiguous waters for the first time on Wednesday, leading Tokyo to convey its “serious concerns” to Beijing over China’s increasingly assertive military actions around Japan,

A Chinese aircraft carrier temporarily entered Japan's contiguous waters for the first time on Wednesday, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported, the latest encounter that could further ratchet up tensions between the neighbours.

Tokyo has shared “serious concerns” with Beijing after a Chinese aircraft carrier traversed a section of the sea within Japan’s contiguous waters for the first time on Wednesday.

China said on Thursday its Liaoning aircraft carrier had been on a routine training mission in the western Pacific and dismissed charges by Tokyo that the vessel and its escorts had entered Japanese waters.