Beijing's island survey plan is a test for Shinzo Abe

The announcement that Beijing plans to deploy surveying teams on the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which China calls the Diaoyu chain, has been dismissed in Japan as little more than an effort to test the response of the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Li Pengde , the deputy director of the Chinese mapping agency, said on Tuesday that the government will dispatch a team of surveyors to carry out a thorough study of the disputed islands at an "appropriate time" and when "the survey team's physical safety can be assured".

Three Chinese maritime surveillance vessels approached the uninhabited islands on Tuesday, entering an area that Japan claims as its territorial waters. The 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, in the Okinawa Prefecture city of Naha, said the intrusion by the Chinese vessels was the first since March 6 but the 33rd incident since Tokyo bought the islands from their private owners in September last year.

"China's basic strategy now is to try to irritate and intimidate Japan, putting pressure on the government to see how the Abe government reacts," said Go Ito, a professor of international relations at Tokyo's Meiji University.

"Beijing's tactic is to take three or four strides forward in its claims to the islands, and then one or two back, he said. "That does mean that they are gradually moving their claim forward, but I don't think they are ready to actually land surveyors on the islands to make maps."

The presence of Chinese vessels, and aircraft, in the vicinity is nevertheless keeping Japan's Coast Guard on its toes and there was concern in January when a Chinese ship was observed opening the doors to the hangar on the stern of the vessel. The fear was that a helicopter was being prepared for take off for the short hop to one of the islands, although nothing materialised.