BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday it has lodged a formal diplomatic complaint over what it called "dangerous provocation" by Japan for shadowing Chinese military exercises in the western Pacific.
Sino-Japanese ties have been strained for months by a dispute over tiny islands in the East China Sea believed to be surrounded by energy-rich waters. They have also been overshadowed by what China says is Japan's refusal to admit to atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in China between 1931 and 1945.