Japan protests against China’s maritime claims near southern island
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Chinese coast guard vessels routinely operated south of Yonaguni Island (above) in June in support of oceanographic survey ships, Japan’s Kyodo News reported on June 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO – Chinese coast guard vessels have been asserting Beijing’s claims to maritime borders east of Taiwan and close to a Japanese island, Tokyo’s top government spokesman said, as tension continues to simmer after Japan and the Philippines said in May they would map out their claims in the region.
“We have confirmed that China Coast Guard vessels have intermittently navigated within Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) south of Yonaguni Island and have made unilateral claims regarding those waters,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a regular press conference on June 29.
“Such activities by China are unacceptable to Japan, and we have repeatedly lodged protests through diplomatic channels,” he added.
Earlier in June, China said it launched a “special maritime traffic enforcement operation” east of Taiwan to assert its maritime jurisdiction in the area. The move came after the leaders of Japan and the Philippines said in May they would start discussions on the delimitation of maritime borders between the two nations.
The three countries have overlapping claims for EEZs in the region. Taiwan also has maritime claims and deployed coast guard vessels in response to China’s operation.
Chinese coast guard vessels routinely operated south of Yonaguni Island in June in support of oceanographic survey ships, Japan’s Kyodo News reported on June 28, citing ship-tracking data.
While Chinese vessels assert Beijing’s claims on almost a daily basis to waters around a small collection of uninhabited Japanese islands known as the Senkakus that are further north, such activity is unusual south of Yonaguni. BLOOMBERG