Japan on Monday lodged a protest with China after a naval vessel was found sailing in its contiguous waters along its coastline. There were also reports of a Russian naval vessel entering Japanese waters.
Japan and China have a long-running dispute over the Senkaku Islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyu, in the East China Sea. While Japan has frequently protested the presence of Chinese coastguard vessels in its waters, public broadcaster NHK reported that this latest incident was the first time since 2018 that a military vessel has been spotted in the area. Kyodo News noted that it was also the first time since June 2016 that Chinese and Russian naval vessels had been spotted entering Japan’s contiguous zone around the same time.
Reporting on the incident, a statement from the Japanese defence ministry said that a Chinese navy frigate had been “observed entering Japan’s contiguous waters” southwest of the Senkaku islands, which are administered by Japan, at around 7:44 am on Monday. The Chinese naval vessel continued to sail in the contiguous waters, which are a 12-nautical-mile extension beyond territorial waters, for 6 minutes.
“We expressed grave concerns and lodged our protest to the Chinese side through a diplomatic route,” said deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara. Kihara added that Tokyo has also urged Beijing to avoid repeating such acts in the future, asserting that the islets are “Japanese territory from the viewpoints of both history and international law.”
Japan Spots Chinese, Russian Warships Spotted Near Disputed Senkaku Islands
— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) July 5, 2022
The Senkakus are uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that the US has. pledged to defend if they are attacked
by Dave DeCamp@DecampDave #Japan #China #Russia #Senakus https://t.co/xWZvydZJRf pic.twitter.com/1W5iUVljBp
On the same morning, a Russian frigate was also spotted entering the disputed waters between 7:05 am to 8:16 am. However, the Japanese defence ministry was unable to immediately confirm the reports to the media.
Tian Shichen, the director of the International Center for the Law of Military Operations, told Chinese state-owned media house Global Times (GT) that “Chinese and Russian vessels have the right, albeit different, to freely navigate in the contiguous zone of the Diaoyu Islands of China.” GT added that “the Russian Navy’s recent military activities in the West Pacific is a warning to Japan amid Japanese sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.”
Similarly, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian also stressed during his regular press conference on Monday that the Diaoyu and its affiliated islands “have been part of China’s territory” and that “the activities of Chinese vessels in the adjacent waters are legitimate and lawful.” “The Japanese side has no right to point fingers over these activities,” he stated.
The incident is the latest in a series of escalations between Japan and China. Former Japanese Prime Minister (PM) Shinzo Abe last December urged China not to provoke regional disharmony or seek territorial expansion, warning that it would be “suicidal.”
Abe also offered his support for Taiwan, saying Tokyo would stand by Taipei in case of a Chinese invasion; he also backed the island’s application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a regional trade pact, as well as the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Furthermore, incumbent PM Fumio Kishida has scaled up defence spending due to China’s “unilateral attempts” to change the status quo in the East China Sea and indeed across the Indo-Pacific at large.
China has in turn accused Japan of “colluding” with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), asserting that it is trying to hype the “China threat theory” as a way to foment regional tensions and “legitimise its ambition to develop military force and push for an amendment of its pacifist constitution.” To this end, it has echoed North Korea’s claims that the United States is seeking to partner with both Japan and South Korea to create an ‘Asian NATO.’
Japan has also seen its ties with Russia deteriorate since the start of the Ukraine war by joining its Western allies to impose tough sanctions. It has so far imposed travel bans and import bans on Russian coal, a significant energy import, as well as machinery and vodka. Furthermore, it has expelled eight Russian diplomats.
In response, Russian submarines fired cruise missiles during exercises in the Sea of Japan as an intimidatory move. It has also accused Japan of being “an accomplice of neo-Nazism.” in Ukraine after Tokyo removed the Azov battalion from its list of neo-Nazi organisations.