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Agence France-Presse

Japan has spotted Chinese vessels sailing near disputed islets in the East China Sea for a record 216 consecutive days, according to Tokyo’s coastguard.
The Tokyo-administered islets, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and Senkakus in Japan, have long been a sore point between the neighbours.
On Sunday, Japan said it observed four Chinese coastguard vessels sailing in the “contiguous” zone, referring to a 12-nautical-mile (22km) band that extends beyond Japan’s territorial waters.
Last year, Chinese vessels sailed near the Tokyo-administered island chain more than 350 times, including for a period of 215 consecutive days, a Japanese coastguard spokesman said.




Japanese officials regularly protest against the presence of the Chinese coastguard and other vessels in the waters surrounding the disputed islands.
Relations between Japan and China were strained by Tokyo’s decision to “nationalise” some of the islands in 2012.
Territorial disputes with China have pushed Japan to forge deeper ties with the Philippines and the United States.
On Friday, Japan’s coastguard and its US and Philippine counterparts staged joint training drills off Japan’s southwest shore – the second time the countries’ coastguards have held training drills together, and the first in Japan.

The joint coastguard exercises, which followed a warning from the three countries about Chinese activity in disputed regional waters, took place over five days off the coast of Kagoshima, where Sakurajima volcano dominates the skyline, quietly puffing out smoke and ash.
Dozens of personnel took part, with Friday’s final exercises featuring one vessel from each of the three countries’ coastguards.
They included the BRP Teresa Magbanua, which was provided to the Philippines by Japan through a loan agreement.

The vessel, named after a schoolteacher and revolutionary, usually monitors Chinese boats in the South China Sea.
China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, which Beijing claims almost entirely, despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis.
Chinese and Japanese patrol vessels in the East China Sea also routinely face off around disputed islands.
On Friday, Manila accused China of using a water cannon on two of its fisheries department boats as they attempted to resupply Philippine fishermen near the disputed Scarborough Shoal.
The US Coast Guard was represented in the exercises by the cutter Stratton, which can carry up to 170 personnel, and Japan by the 6,000-tonne Asanagi.


Japanese coastguard official Naofumi Tsumura said the joint exercises had “built mutual understanding and trust”. “More than anything, we have strengthened coordination and cooperation between us,” he said.
Last year, the three countries issued a joint statement that included strong language aimed at Beijing.
“We express our serious concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) dangerous and aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea,” it said, describing “dangerous and coercive use of coastguard and maritime militia vessels”.
They also expressed “strong opposition to any attempts by the PRC to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea”.
Last week’s joint exercises were the first since the statement was released.
Tsumura said there were small details that could have worked better and vowed to improve in future collaborations.
He said the three countries’ coastguards had “come to understand each other better, or as the Japanese often say, to know each other by face”.
“I believe we are now able to conduct maritime rescue operations more effectively,” he said.
Earlier this month, Tokyo and Beijing traded barbs over close encounters between their military planes over the Pacific high seas.


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Japan

Japan flags record 216 days of Chinese ships near disputed islands

A Chinese maritime surveillance vessel and a Japanese ship pass near the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. Photo: Kyodo

The Japanese flag flies off the back of the Japan Coast Guard ship “Asanagi”, with Sakurajima volcano looming in the background, during last week’s joint drills. Photo: AFP

(From left) US, Japanese and Philippine coastguard vessels patrol in formation during joint exercises on Friday. Photo: Japan Coast Guard / AFP

Is China preparing to seize Diaoyu Islands? Japan ex-army chief warns of ‘absorption’ plans

Chinese and Japanese coastguard vessels sail near the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea in April. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

A Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force surveillance plane flies over the disputed Diaoyu Islands. The islands, long a flashpoint in Sino-Japanese ties, are controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing. Photo: AP

A Chinese J-15 fighter jet approaches close to a Japanese P-3C patrol aircraft above the Pacific Ocean on June 8. Photo: Japan’s Ministry of Defence / AFP

A fishing boat returns from a catch on Yonaguni, an outlying island of Okinawa, in February. Photo: AP

Japan warns of collision risks after Chinese fighter jet’s ‘abnormal approaches’

A J-15 fighter jet from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong making an unusual approach to a Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force P-3C patrol aircraft that was conducting surveillance above the Pacific Ocean on June 8. Photo: Japan’s Ministry of Defence / AFP

Japan has expressed serious concern to Beijing after a J-15 fighter jet from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong flew unusually close to a Japanese military patrol plane in the Pacific over the weekend. Photo: Japan’s Ministry of Defence / AFP

A Lockheed Martin Aeronautics recovery team member hangs from a crane as he works to remove the dorsal fin of the US Navy EP-3 surveillance plane at the Lingshui airfield on China’s Hainan island on June 22, 2001. The plane collided in midair with a Chinese F-8 fighter plane on April 1, 2001. Photo: Reuters/Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

Chinese ships seen near Diaoyu Islands for record 353 days in 2024 – to ‘outlast’ Japan?

A China Coast Guard vessel sails near a Japan Coast Guard vessel off Uotsuri Island, one of a group of disputed islands called Senkaku Islands in Japan, also known in China as Diaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea in April. Photo:  Kyodo via Reuters

A China Coast Guard ship cruising near Japan’s territorial waters around the Diaoyu Islands, also known as the Senkaku Islands, in August 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/Japan Coast Guard

A group of disputed islands, Uotsuri island (top), Minamikojima (bottom) and Kitakojima, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, is seen in the East China Sea. Photo: Reuters/Kyodo

China coastguard drives off Japanese fishing boats in escalating island dispute

The Diaoyus, known in Japan as the Senkakus, comprise five uninhabited islets and three reefs, located 169km east of Taiwan and 409km west of Okinawa. Photo: Kyodo

News

Asia

East Asia

The unprecedented streak of Chinese vessel sightings was capped off by four coastguard vessels that were observed on Sunday, Tokyo said


The unprecedented streak of Chinese vessel sightings was capped off by four coastguard vessels that were observed on Sunday, Tokyo said.
