TOKYO: Three Chinese government ships entered the waters of disputed Tokyo-controlled islands yesterday, Japan’s coastguard said, as a long-running row shows no sign of fading.
Maritime surveillance vessels were spotted in the 12-nautical-mile zone off the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea shortly after 9:00am, the coastguard said.
It is the latest episode in a fraught few months that has seen repeated stand-offs between official ships from both sides as they have jostled over ownership of strategically-important and resource-rich islands.
The territorial row blistered in September when Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain, in what it said was a mere administrative change of ownership.
Tokyo’s move prompted angry anti-Japan demonstrations across China, which has intensified claims to the islands it says should have been “returned” in the post-World War II settlement Tokyo made.
In one of the more intense incidents, Chinese warships locked their weapons-targeting radar on a Japanese destroyer, and opposing fighter planes have shadowed each other on numerous occasions amid warnings a slip-up could lead to a military showdown. AFP
