Japan could fire at foreign official vessels aiming to enter waters near Diaoyu Islands

Officials had said earlier Japan’s coastguard is only allowed to fire weapons at foreign vessels in cases of self-defence and emergency escape
The move comes weeks after China implemented a new law that allows its coastguard to fire on foreign vessels in disputed waters

Japan

Kyodo

Published: 10:23pm, 25 Feb, 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

The Japan Coast Guard could directly fire a weapon against foreign official vessels aiming to land on the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, ruling party members said on Thursday, citing government officials.

The government officials told a panel of the Liberal Democratic Party they have confirmed their interpretation of existing laws. China implemented a new law earlier this month that allows its coastguard to use weapons against foreign ships that Beijing sees as illegally entering its waters.

Government officials had said earlier Japan’s coastguard is only allowed to fire weapons directly at foreign vessels in cases of self-defence and emergency escape.

Japan to station coastguard vessel at Ogasawara Islands to counter Chinese ships

The officials explained the confirmed interpretation at a meeting of the panel, saying it is possible for Japan’s coastguard to fire on foreign official vessels under laws by regarding vessels aiming to land on the islands – known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands – as committing violent crimes.

The interpretation is partly based on applying the use of police power under a police law to the coastguard, an LDP member who attended the meeting said, citing the government officials. The interpretation emerged because using force against vessels of foreign countries is considered to run counter to Japan’s war-renouncing constitution and exclusively defence-oriented policy.

It is the first time government officials have referred to the coastguard’s possible firing on foreign official vessels aiming to land on Japanese territory, according to the LDP member, Taku Otsuka, who leads the LDP’s National defence Division that held the meeting.

01:56

Diaoyu-Senkaku islands spat deepens as Japan warns China over coastguard ships in East China Sea

There were rising concerns in Japan that the country is unable to deal with China’s assertiveness around the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Diaoyu Islands.

Last year Chinese coastguard vessels entered Japanese territorial waters near the islands around twice a month. Since the law took effect in China earlier this month, the frequency has risen to twice a week, according to the Japan Coast Guard.

After the implementation of the law on February 1, Tokyo expressed “strong concern” over the legislation, which also authorises the Chinese coastguard to seize foreign ships entering waters claimed by Beijing.

China’s coastguard law understandably worrying for Asean nations: experts

On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said in a video message at a symposium that the security environment in the Indo-Pacific region has become severe, voicing concerns that “military capability expansion lacking in transparency and unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion have continued” in the region, although he did not name China.

Suga also said, “I firmly believe that it is ‘a free and open order based on the rule of law’, not ‘force or coercion’, that will bring peace and prosperity to the region and the world.”