The Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands, though relative specks in the East China Sea, are among several sites where China acts aggressively to assert territorial claims that other nations regard as illegal. (Cabinet Secretariat of Japan)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Three Chinese coast guard vessels entered the 12-mile territorial limit around the Senkaku Islands between Tuesday and Thursday, the third such incident in less than a month, according to the Japanese coast guard.
The three vessels were chasing a Japanese fishing boat and appeared to be armed with deck-mounted machine guns, according to a Japan coast guard news release.
The first vessel entered waters south of Uotsuri island, the largest of the Senkaku chain, around 1:38 p.m. Tuesday, closely followed by the second at 2:35 p.m. and third at 4:29 p.m. near Minamikojima, according to the release.
A larger contingent of Japanese coast guard ships positioned themselves between the fishing boat and the Chinese vessels and warned the Chinese by radio and electronic messaging boards to leave the area, a Japanese coast guard spokesman said by phone Friday. Some government officials in Japan are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.
The last Chinese vessel left the area at 8:26 p.m. Wednesday; the first two left at 8:17 a.m. Thursday, according to the release.
Another Chinese coast guard ship was spotted in Japan’s exclusive economic zone but did not intrude, the release said.
The Senkakus — five uninhabited islets and three reefs 105 miles east of Taiwan and 254 miles west of Okinawa — are administered by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. The area around the islands reportedly contains oil reserves and other resources, which has led to Chinese challenges to Japan’s claim over the islands since the 1970s, according to Japan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The ministry filed multiple complaints with the Chinese Embassy in Japan and with the Chinese government in Beijing over the three-day intrusion. “We asked them to leave the area,” a ministry spokesman said by phone Friday.
This latest intrusion follows a five-day incident starting June 20 in which four Chinese coast guard vessels repeatedly entered the 12-mile territorial limit around the island chain. Another four Chinese coast guard vessels entered and left the area June 7, the Japan coast guard said at the time.
Chinese ships have been spotted sailing within Japan’s exclusive economic zone near the Senkakus for 197 straight days as of Friday, a new record, the Japanese coast guard spokesman said.
Chinese ships last year came within 12 miles of the Senkakus 34 times and remained for a total of 42 days, a Japanese coast guard spokesman has said. The record was set in 2013, when Chinese vessels entered the islets’ territorial limits 52 times and remained there for 54 days.
China stepped up its presence around the Senkakus following a visit by President Xi Jinping in November to his country’s coast guard command in which he stated the necessity to “constantly strengthen” Beijing’s claim on the islands, Kyodo News reported at the time. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel lambasted the plan to “keep ships in and around Japan’s Senkaku Islands for 365 consecutive days” in a January post on X.
The intrusions are part of a pattern of provocative actions by China in recent years challenging its neighbors’ maritime claims in the East and South China seas. In May, a Chinese surveillance and strike drone was spotted for the first time north of Okinawa.
The Pentagon identified China as an aggressive presence in the East and South China seas and a global “pacing challenge” in its 2022 National Defense Strategy.
As part of its response, the Defense Department this week announced a plan Wednesday to station more advanced fighter aircraft in Japan over the next several years - including F-35A Lightning IIs at Misawa Air Base for the first time and F-15EX Eagles at Kadena Air Base.
