China’s dispute with Japan over Japanese-controlled islands is heating up again, with both sides accusing the other of infringing on their maritime territory.
China says the islands belong to it and refuses to recognize Japan’s claim to the uninhabited chain of islands.
Taiwan also claims the islands, which it calls the Diaoyutais (釣魚台列嶼). They are known as the Senkakus in Japanese and Diaoyu in China. Taipei has signed agreements with Japan for its fishers to access the waters around the islands.
China routinely sends coast guard vessels and planes into waters and airspace surrounding the islands to harass Japanese vessels in the area and force Japan to scramble jets in response.
On Wednesday, a Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson said that Chinese vessels had “expelled some Japanese vessels which had illegally entered the territorial waters.”
The unidentified official said that its moves were routine measures to safeguard sovereignty and maritime interests.
The Japanese Coast Guard yesterday said that Chinese vessels were inside Japanese territorial waters around the islands and have been repeatedly requested to leave and not to approach Japanese fishing boats operating in the area.
Unlike islands in the busy South China Sea, the Diaoyutais chain lying between Okinawa and Taiwan has little strategic importance.
However, China has made them part of its campaign to rally nationalism based on memories of Japan’s invasion and occupation of much of China that ended in 1945.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were meeting in Tokyo yesterday for talks underscoring their shared sense of urgency to form a united front on North Korea and China with their mutual ally, the US.
Intrusions by Chinese military vessels into waters around the islands featured in wide-ranging discussions in January in Washington between Kishida and US President Joe Biden.
Those talks came as Japan is increasing defense spending dramatically and looking to build security cooperation with allies amid Chinese and North Korean military action.
The US is also bolstering alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to meet new threats, including providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, gaining increased access to Philippine bases and boosting defense cooperation with Taiwan.
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