East China Sea: Japan protests after Chinese vessels enter waters near Diaoyus

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A Japanese coastguard vessel near the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:30pm, 12 Oct 2020Updated: 11:38pm, 12 Oct 2020

Japan filed a diplomatic protest with Beijing on Monday, a day after Chinese coastguard vessels entered the waters around one of the disputed islands in the East China Sea and approached a Japanese fishing boat.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a regularly scheduled press conference in Tokyo that the two Chinese ships intruded into Japanese territorial waters around Taisho Island, one of the Senkaku Islands, which Beijing claims and refers to as the Diaoyu archipelago, at 10.47am on Sunday.

Japanese coastguard officials said the ships attempted to draw near to a fishing boat and were still within Japan’s territorial waters in the late afternoon, despite repeated requests from Japanese coastguard patrol ships to immediately leave the area.

“Japan has strongly protested the matter through diplomatic channels in both Tokyo and Beijing,” Kato said. “We will continue to act calmly but firmly regarding China.

“We will continue to patrol and maintain surveillance around the Senkaku Islands to ensure a safe fishing environment,” he added.