TOKYO: Four Chinese government ships temporarily sailed into the territorial waters of disputed Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea yesterday, Japan’s coast guard said.
The maritime surveillance vessels entered the 12-nautical-mile zone around Uotsurijima, the main islet in the disputed chain called the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China at about noon (0300 GMT).
The four ships left the zone at about 3pm (0600 GMT) and remained within 24-nautical-mile “contiguous” waters off Uotsurijima at 3.30pm, a coastguard official said.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai “strongly protested to the Chinese ambassador Cheng Yonghua about the Chinese ships’ intrusion into Japan’s territorial waters, and the growing frequency of such moves” by telephone, the foreign ministry in Tokyo said in a statement. Kawai said the “repeated provocative action” would undermine communication between the countries aimed at calming the situation, according to the statement.
The Chinese envoy repeated Beijing’s own view on the issue but added he was seeking to resolve the dispute through dialogue, it said.
Chinese vessels have moved in and out of what Japan says is its sovereign territory over the past two months since Tokyo nationalised some of the islands in the group. It was the third consecutive day that Chinese vessels have entered the territorial waters of the disputed islets.
On Friday, six Chinese government ships temporarily entered the territorial waters around the same islet, while on Saturday, one Chinese government ship temporarily entered the same area, according to the coast guard.
As well as the potential mineral reserves, national pride is at stake in the decades-old spat, which has recently spiked and hit the huge trade relationship between the two biggest economies in the region.
Japan and China are readying for a third round of talks on the issue.
AFP
