Japan warship docks in China

Foreign journalists and the Chinese public have been barred access to the Chinese naval port but the Sazanami was in full view as it approached the port, with Japanese and Chinese flags flying and its crew lining the deck at attention.

As well as its 240 crew, the Sazanami is also carrying blankets, medicine and other relief supplies for survivors of last month’s deadly earthquake in southern China.

Japanese forces invaded and occupied parts of China from 1931 to 1945, and relations continue to be overshadowed by animosities stemming from Japanese wartime atrocities.