Beijing will have been on alert amid a recent spate of military engagements between Japan and several Southeast Asian countries that China has disputes with in the South China Sea, according to observers.

And Beijing might seek to counter such activities in the region, they added.

The observations come as Japan pledged to deepen ties with Vietnam this week during a visit to the nation by Japanese defence minister Minoru Kihara, with Tokyo saying it would provide two supply transport vehicles to Hanoi as part of an agreement on defence equipment and technology transfer.

Vietnam defence chief General Phan Van Giang called for the two countries to push ahead towards a "new, effective phase ... for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world", Vietnamese media reported.

A week earlier, Japan held a joint military exercise with the Philippines in the South China Sea - the first of its kind.

Manila called the drills "part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen regional and international cooperation towards realising a free and open Indo-Pacific", according to a statement from the Philippine armed forces.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire resource-rich South China Sea. These claims overlap with several countries in the region, including the Philippines and Vietnam, which have led to ongoing disputes. Tensions have remained particularly high between Beijing and Manila over a series of recent clashes.

Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said Japan's move to provide security-related material to Vietnam was not surprising, given that it has previously offered coastguard aid.

But it was a "notable step", he said, as the recent arrangement was directed by Japan's defence ministry compared to past instances which were led by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

JICA is a government body which traditionally focuses on economic and social assistance to developing countries, but in recent years it has been involved in programmes related to maritime security.

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