Chinese ships in disputed waters on National Day, says Japanese coastguard

Chinese ships sailed into Tokyo-controlled waters on Tuesday as Beijing celebrated its National Day and as Japan and the United States prepare for talks on their defence pact.

Four vessels from the Chinese coastguard entered the territorial waters of the Senkaku islands at around 9am, the Japanese coastguard said. China calls the islands the Diaoyus and says they belong to Beijing.

It came as US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John Kelly prepare to head to Tokyo for a meeting on Thursday with Japanese counterparts Itsunori Onodera and Fumio Kishida.

Japan’s hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants Tokyo to play a more self-confident role on the world stage and for its military to shoulder more of the burden of the defence pact with Washington.

The so-called “2+2” meeting will discuss operational arrangements for the Tokyo-Washington alliance, which were last amended in 1997, officials have said.

The latest incident also comes on the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, a day marked by a public holiday throughout the country.