China claims drills irrelevant with arbitration / 中國7/5-11南海軍演 稱"例行性.與仲裁案無關"　　　　　　　　　　

In East Asia, tensions are rising as the international court of Hague is about to rule on the arbitration over territorial disputes between China and the Philippines. However, China has chosen to conduct military drills from July 5 to 11, which is considered by many to be a very sensitive timing. Vietnam is now complaining and demanding the drills to be aborted, but Beijing insisted that the drills are only a "regular exercise." Meanwhile, on the 4th, Chinese officials accused Japanese fighter jets of provocative actions that took place on June 17th. According to China, two Japanese F-15s approached two high speed Chinese Sukhoi Su-30s carrying out a routine patrol in the East China sea. They initiated radar scanning against the Chinese jets, and shook off false heat targets before flying away. The incident was immediately denied by Japan's deputy chief Cabinet secretary, who said the two F-15s only took off after Chinese jets crossed the border. TRANSLATED BY：JEFF CHANG