Ships from Japan’s and China’s coast guards faced off near disputed islands Tuesday, with each claiming they drove out the other’s vessels that had intruded into their territorial waters.
Japan’s coast guard said it expelled two Chinese ships as they approached a Japanese fishing vessel sailing in the area. The Japan coast guard said it “issued orders to leave … successfully forcing the Chinese coast guard vessels to leave Japanese territorial waters.”
China‘s coast guard said separately that it drove out a Japanese fishing boat that “intruded into” waters around the islands. The Chinese coast guard said that “Japanese fishing boat Zuihou Maru intruded into the territorial waters… CCG vessels took necessary measures to warn and expel it”.
The incident occurred near uninhabited islands claimed as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, which sit between Taiwan and Okinawa and have caused diplomatic tensions for decades.
China and Japan have long accused each other of deploying ships around the islands, sometimes resulting in dangerous standoffs.
Japan has administered the Senkaku Islands since 1972, but faces repeated claims of sovereignty from China. Beijing maintains that the islands are an integral part of its territory, while Tokyo rejects China’s claims, asserting that they are under its sovereignty and that there is no dispute requiring negotiation.
In recent years, the region has witnessed repeated incursions by Chinese coast guard vessels and military aircraft in the vicinity of the islands, sparking mutual protests between the two countries amid escalating tensions in the East China Sea, a major flashpoint of strategic competition in the Asia-Pacific region. (AFP)
