TOKYO: Japan has carried out its first submarine drill in the South China Sea, a newspaper said yesterday, a move that could provoke Beijing which claims most of the disputed waters, reports AFP.

The submarine Kuroshio on Thursday joined three Japanese warships in waters just southwest of the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, the Asahi Shimbun said.

China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in shipping trade passes annually, despite competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Tensions have been high over the Scarborough Shoal since Beijing seized it from Manila in 2012.

The newspaper said the submarine exercises were Tokyo's first in the South China Sea.

The Maritime Self-Defence Force carried out a "practical" anti-submarine drill, including an exercise to spot enemy submarines with sonar devices, the Asahi said, quoting government sources.