The Japan coast guard said that Chinese coast guard vessel 1302, seen here in August 2019, entered its territorial waters near the Senkakus Islands on March 21, 2025. (Japan coast guard)
The Chinese coast guard on Monday set a record for the longest continuous presence inside territorial waters claimed by Japan around the Senkaku Islands, a disputed cluster of islets in the East China Sea.
Two Chinese coast guard vessels remained for 85 hours and four minutes inside the 12-mile territorial limit, mainly around Minamikojima, an islet in the chain that Japan administers, according to a Japan coast guard news release that day. China and Taiwan also claim the islands.
The two vessels, armed with deck-mounted machine guns, entered the territorial limit just before 2 a.m. Friday while pursuing two Japanese fishing boats, according to the coast guard that day. Two more Chinese vessels, also armed, crossed the territorial limit at around 2:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. Saturday, respectively, a subsequent release said.
At least three of the four Chinese vessels remained within the territorial limit at any given time until 8 p.m. Sunday, according to multiple Japan coast guard updates over the weekend.
The record-breaking incursion was set at 10:32 a.m. Monday, a coast guard spokesman said by phone. Two of the four Chinese ships were still inside the claimed waters near Uotsurijima as of 3 p.m., according to a coast guard news release.
The previous record was 80 hours and 36 minutes, set between March 30 and April 2, 2023, according to the Japan coast guard.
A larger contingent of Japanese coast guard vessels positioned themselves between the Chinese ships and the remaining fishing boat, warning the Chinese to leave via radio and electronic message boards, the spokesman said. He declined to specify how many Japanese ships were deployed.
Chinese vessels have entered the territorial waters around the Senkakus four times this year, most recently on March 14, according to the Japan coast guard.
“Such intrusions are violating international law, and we will continue to defend our waters firmly,” the spokesman said.
Some Japanese government officials may speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called on Beijing to reduce tensions in the “situation in the East China Sea” during a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Japan on Friday, according to a Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs news release Saturday.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya also expressed “serious concerns” over the increasing Chinese incursions and Beijing’s growing military activity in the Indo-Pacific during a meeting with Wang on Saturday, a separate ministry release said.
The Senkakus consist of five uninhabited islets and three reefs 105 miles east of Taiwan and 254 miles west of Okinawa. The surrounding waters are believed to contain valuable resources, including fish, oil and natural gas.
Chinese coast guard ships entered the Senkakus’ 24-mile contiguous zone a record-breaking 355 days last year, fulfilling Beijing’s vow to ramp up its presence around the islands.
Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the need to “constantly strengthen” Beijing’s claim over the Senkakus during a November 2023 visit to his country’s coast guard command, Kyodo News reported at the time.
Then-U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel condemned China’s plan to “keep ships in and around Japan’s Senkaku Islands for 365 consecutive days” in a January 2023 post on X.
