According to Tokyo’s most recent count, which was made public on Monday, China Coast Guard ships have been in the waters surrounding Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea for a record 158 days running, breaking the previous record established in 2021.Analysts worry that the uninhabited islands, called the Diaoyus in China and the Senkakus in Japan, could spark hostilities between the two Asian neighbours.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, the chief cabinet secretary, stated during a Monday briefing in Tokyo that “the Japanese government takes very seriously the fact that there have been a succession of vessels sailing in the contiguous zone and trespassing in territorial waters.”
The Japanese government chief spokesperson did not say how often Chinese ships entered Japan’s territorial waters, though foreign ships are allowed “innocent passage” through such waters.
A contiguous zone extends another 12 nautical miles beyond a country’s territorial waters, the area that stretches 12 nautical miles from the shore.Foreign warships are allowed into contiguous zone waters – so the Chinese Coast Guard hasn’t broken any international agreements – but the continuous presence of the Chinese vessels there is seen as a provocation.Hayashi said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has raised Tokyo’s “serious concerns” with Chinese Premier Li Gongmin during a trilateral summit with South Korea in Seoul on Monday.
“We will continue to take every possible precaution and surveillance around the Senkaku Islands with a sense of urgency,” he said.The uninhabited island chain has been a sore spot in Japan-China relations for years.Claims over the rocky chain, 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo but only about 205 miles (330 kilometers) from China’s east coast, date back centuries, and neither Japan nor China is likely to back down over territory considered a national birthright in both capitals.Tensions heated up in 2012, after Tokyo bought some of the islands from a private Japanese owner, which Beijing took as a direct challenge to its sovereignty claims.
It has frequently dispatched China Coast Guard and other government vessels to the waters around the islands to assert those claims.“China’s patrol and law enforcement missions in waters off the Diaoyu Dao are legitimate measures taken by China to exercise its sovereignty in accordance with law and are necessary responses to Japanese provocations in violation of China’s sovereignty,” a 2022 Chinese Foreign Ministry document says.“No country or force should misjudge the strong resolve of the Chinese government to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it says.Experts have said China makes a statement and sets up a possible legal argument for sovereignty over the islands by keeping government ships near them.
Source: Here