The ship, which specializes in electronic and signals intelligence collection, was seen monitoring a U.S.-Japan-South Korea exercise in the East China Sea.

The Chinese flotilla sailed to the south and arrived in the Tasman Sea 150 nautical miles east ... China Sea and headed southward. All three Chinese ships are assigned to the Southern Theater Command ...

Tensions have risen to dangerous levels between Japan and China over a small group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, called the Senkaku by the Japanese and the Diaoyu by the Chinese.