With 5 Missiles, China Sends Stark Signal to Japan and U.S. on Taiwan

North Korea has for years lobbed missiles into Japan’s waters without great incident. But for an increasingly powerful and aggressive China to do the same — as it did Thursday as a part of military exercises — has sharply raised concerns in political and security circles from Tokyo to Washington.

Beijing’s firing of five missiles into Japanese waters to the east of Taiwan has sent a warning to both the United States and Japan about coming to the aid of Taiwan in the event of a conflict there, analysts said....