Four armed China Coast Guard vessels yesterday morning sailed through disputed waters controlled by Japan, amid a diplomatic spat following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan.
The four ships sailed around the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) to Taiwan, and which Taiwan and China also claim — on Saturday before entering Japanese waters yesterday and left, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The China Coast Guard said in a statement that it carried out a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters and that it was a lawful operation.
Photo: Kyodo News via AP
As of the end of last month, Chinese ships have been spotted in the waters intermittently over 27 days this year — the last time on Oct. 15 — data compiled by the Japan Coast Guard shows.
TAIWAN COMMENTS
Tensions between the two nations have escalated since Takaichi last week said that if military force were used in any conflict over Taiwan, it could be considered a “survival-threatening situation” — a classification that would provide a legal justification for Japan to intervene.
China demanded that Takaichi retract the remark, and then advised its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan in the near term. China’s consul general in Osaka prompted a formal protest from Tokyo by commenting that “the dirty head that sticks itself out must be cut off.”
Beijing then summoned the Japanese ambassador for the first time in more than two years, and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense declared that any Japanese intervention would be doomed to fail.
Yesterday, the Chinese Ministry of Education advised students planning to study in Japan to use caution because of heightened safety risks for Chinese there, state broadcaster China Central Television said.
ACTIVITY AROUND TAIWAN
In Taipei, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that it had detected 30 Chinese military aircraft, seven navy ships and one “official” ship operating around the nation over the past 24 hours.
Late on Saturday, the ministry said China had been carrying out another “joint combat patrol” to “harass the airspace and sea around us.”
It added that the military had sent aircraft and ships to monitor the situation.
Additional reporting by the Guardian
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