A story on the disputed Senkaku Islands has been trending on Japan’s Kyodo News since the first day of 2024. According to the report, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) instructed the China Coast Guard at the end of November last year that it would not surrender an inch over the Senkaku Islands issue.
The Senkaku Islands—also referred to as “Diaoyu Islands” by China—are located in the East China Sea and are currently a part of Japan.
However, China has claimed sovereignty over the islands since 1971, and the CCP has used the dispute to fuel anti-Japan sentiments and ultranationalism in China.
Japan says that the islands have been incorporated into Japanese territory since 1895 and continued to be a part of Japan under international law after World War II.
According to the Kyodo News report, the CCP will send ships daily to the waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands in 2024, where they are to board and inspect Japanese fishing vessels when deemed necessary.
This is the first time it has been revealed that Beijing plans to inspect Japanese fishing vessels. If this is the case, it could lead to conflicts with Japan Coast Guard vessels, escalating the dispute.
Although The Epoch Times cannot verify the Kyodo News report, the series of actions taken by the CCP seems to corroborate it.
In response to the Kyodo News report, Yao Cheng, a U.S.-based former Chinese navy lieutenant colonel, told The Epoch Times that Mr. Xi is seeking to “light fires everywhere to distract the U.S. military forces” to ultimately achieve the goal of “reunification” with Taiwan.
“The CCP’s strategic objective is obvious,” Mr. Yao said.
“The Russia-Ukraine War is still ongoing, while the Israel-Hamas War started. These two conflicts have consumed massive amounts of U.S. resources and military intelligence focus,” he said.
“If the CCP started a conflict with the Philippines and then ignited a war with Japan, the U.S. military focus would be divided. In the end, it will be Taiwan’s turn.”
Mr. Yao believes that the CCP will seek to spread conflicts everywhere so that the U.S. military cannot cope with them simultaneously. In the CCP’s view, the Senkaku Islands, the Korean Peninsula, and the South China Sea are all regions where it can stir up conflicts to distract the U.S. military’s resources.
Japan’s Concerns
On Dec. 31, 2023, the Japan Coast Guard confirmed that four China Coast Guard vessels were in the contiguous zone of the Senkaku Islands, about 22 kilometers outside territorial waters. For 352 days in 2023, China Coast Guard vessels have been in the area, which marked the most since Japan nationalized the ownership of the Senkaku Islands in 2012.Over the past few years, China has been implementing a protracted and gradual strategy in the Senkaku Islands, attempting to demonstrate its control and sovereignty over the disputed islands through its actions. Such moves have raised concerns in Japan.
In September last year, the Philippines removed floating barriers installed by the Chinese at a disputed reef in the South China Sea because they violated international law, posed a navigational hazard, and infringed on the sovereignty of the Philippines, which has also faced constant harassment and intimidation by the China Coast Guard in disputed regions.
Two months before the Philippines removed the barriers, China set up a 10-meter-wide survey buoy in the waters of the Senkaku Islands, located on the Japanese side of the median line between the territorial waters of China and Japan. The Chinese ocean observation buoy collects marine data and transmits it via satellite to the China Coast Guard.
De Facto Occupation
In Japan’s view, China’s move to place buoys in Japan’s contiguous zone and its intrusion into Japan’s territorial waters is the beginning of a quiet de facto occupation.Since February last year, the China Coast Guard has been claiming that it repelled Japanese fishing vessels that have “illegally trespassed” into China’s territorial waters.”
Since then, there have been 17 incidents of tailing and expulsion of Japanese fishing vessels fishing around the Senkaku Islands.
In addition, two new developments have attracted Japan’s attention.
The first is that China Coast Guard vessels have stayed in Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands longer than before, increasing to over 80 hours on one occasion last year.
Secondly, since March, China Coast Guard vessels, after entering the waters around the Senkaku Islands, have been actively turning on their automatic identification system (AIS), which allows other vessels to know where they are. Previously, Chinese vessels would turn off the AIS after entering the area to make themselves invisible.
Public Opinion in Japan
According to a December poll conducted by the Japanese Cabinet Office, 78.4 percent of respondents—3,000 people over 18 years old—were concerned about the Senkaku Islands issue, the highest percentage since the poll began in 2013.Meanwhile, many in the Japanese press call for 2024 to be the year Japan legally asserts its sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands.
