Sunday’s Tokyo Shimbun reported on the disclosure by several sources involved in Sino-Japanese relations that Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng told a senior GOJ official in late June that Japan would be “crossing the line” if it dispatched SDF warships to take part in U.S. military freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. The envoy hinted at China’s possible military response to such a scenario by saying that “China would not back off on sovereignty issues and would not be afraid of military provocations.”