U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel visits Yokosuka Naval Base, south of Yokohama, Jan. 19, 2024. (Stars and Stripes)
TOKYO — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel poked the dragon again Tuesday with a tweet aimed at Chinese incursions into Japanese air and maritime territory.
Emanuel on his account on social platform X, @USAmbJapan, questioned China’s intent behind “two territorial incursions in less than a week.”
Japan says a Chinese survey vessel entered territorial waters off Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, for about two hours Saturday morning.
That incident followed a Chinese Y-9 surveillance aircraft’s brief Aug. 26 incursion into Japanese airspace over a small island offshore of Kyushu, the first time a Chinese military aircraft breached Japan’s airspace.
Emanuel suggested Beijing acted with intent.
“China says it’s still ‘investigating and verifying’ the recent violation of Japan’s airspace by one of its surveillance planes,” he wrote. “But with a Chinese survey ship sailing into Japanese waters only the other day, two territorial incursions in less than a week looks more intentional than accidental.”
He went onto suggest the People’s Liberation Army — the official name for the Chinese military — consult an accurate map.
“Not one to usually offer free advice to the PLA, but #GoogleMaps is a great (free) option. It goes without saying, obviously, it will need a VPN to bypass China’s Great Firewall.”
Emanuel, a critic of China during his tenure as U.S. ambassador, weighed in the day after the Aug. 26 incursion.
“There’s little ‘love thy neighbor’ in China’s ‘good neighbor’ policy,” he tweeted Aug. 27. “A Chinese surveillance plane recently violating Japanese airspace, Chinese coast guard cutters repeatedly ramming and firing water cannons at Philippine ships, and a Chinese fighter dropping flares at an Australian helicopter tell the true story. More backyard bullying and badgering than barbecues and ballgames.”
A spokesperson for China’s military on Thursday said the two nations are communicating about the aircraft incident through diplomatic channels. Wu Qian said China has always respected the sovereignty of other nations and hopes other people will not over-interpret the incident, according to a report by Japanese public broadcaster NHK that day.
China’s alleged entries into Japanese territorial seas and airspace, the area within 12 miles of its baselines, in the case of seas, and land areas for air space, mark a sudden escalation.
For years, the Chinese coast guard has played cat-and-mouse with Japan’s coast guard around the Senkakus, a handful of islets and exposed rocks northeast of Taiwan, held by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.
The Japan coast guard alleges frequent forays against Chinese ships trailing Japanese fishing vessels into territorial waters Japan claims around the Senkakus.
