Japan Claims 4 Chinese Coast Guard Vessels Approach Its Ships in Disputed Waters

A Chinese coast guard vessel sails near disputed Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands on Aug. 6, 2016. (11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters via AP)

Japan claimed that four China Coast Guard ships entered its territorial waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands on Monday and approached Japanese vessels sailing in the area, according to local media.

The Japan Coast Guard said that Chinese vessels approached a 997-ton Shinsei Maru ship and Japanese fishing boats near the islands between 2.47 a.m. and 6.07 a.m. (local time) on Monday.

The Shinsei Maru is a commercial ship that the local government has rented to conduct marine survey work around the islands. According to local reports, one of the Chinese vessels entered the waters off Minami-Kojima Island in the Senkaku Islands and approached the ship at around 4 a.m. (local time).

Japan Coast Guard patrol ships later intervened and warned the Chinese vessels to leave the area. All four Chinese craft exited the area between 12.35 p.m. and 1.50 p.m. (local time), Japan Times reported.

In response, the China Coast Guard accused the Shinsei Maru and four other Japanese ships of “illegally entering” China’s territorial waters off the Diaoyu Islands—the Chinese name for the Senkaku Islands—and said that it took action to drive them away.

“The [China Coast Guard] vessels carried out legitimate maritime rights protection and law enforcement activities in sea areas under China’s jurisdiction, on which the Japanese side has no right to make irresponsible remarks,” its spokesperson said in a statement.

The Japanese government has lodged a protest against the intrusion, which marked Beijing’s second incursion this year on the Senkaku Islands, the first being on Jan. 10, according to local media.

The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have mostly been administered by Japan since 1895, but Beijing began asserting its rights over the islands in the 1970s.

Japan had strongly protested China’s repeated incursions and urged Beijing to exercise “self-restraint,” but Beijing has vowed to “firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests” in Senkaku Islands.

South China Sea Dispute

Beijing has also increased its military presence in the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely under its so-called “nine-dash line” despite competing claims from other nations, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

A Chinese navy formation, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning (C), during military drills in the South China Sea, in an aerial photo taken on Jan. 2, 2017. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.N. Ocean Conference has met three times over territorial disputes related to the South China Sea over a space of 20 years. Representatives of the involved countries all reached a final agreement in 1982 and signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The Convention entered into force on Nov. 16, 1994. China is one of more than 150 countries that signed the Convention.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines with regard to its claims on the South China Sea and ruled that Beijing’s claims lacked any legal basis.

But the verdict has had little impact on Beijing’s behavior, with it continuing to pursue its claims to vast swathes of the sea.

In April 2021, Japan and the Philippines held their first “2+2” security meeting in Tokyo and agreed to consider facilitating “reciprocal visits” to strengthen defense cooperation amid tensions in the South China Sea.

In a joint statement, the two countries agreed to increase defense relations through “capability building, reciprocal port calls/ship visits, transfer of more defense equipment and technology, and continuous cooperation on previously-transferred defense equipment.”

Both countries “strongly opposed” actions that would exacerbate tensions in the East and South China Seas, underscoring the need for a rules-based approach to resolving competing claims in maritime areas within the framework of international law.

They called for the implementation of a code of conduct consistent with the Law of the Sea without jeopardizing the legitimate rights of all stakeholders in the disputed sea, according to the statement.

David Chu contributed to this report.