Japanese warship, Chinese fishing boat in collision

A Chinese fishing boat and a Japanese warship collided in the East China Sea on Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday that the incident happened around 7:30 pm east of Zhoushan in Zhejiang province. The fishing boat incurred damage and one of the crew suffered an injured back in the collision involving a vessel of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force.

Hua said the Chinese coast guard is dealing with the situation and investigating the incident.

The collision took place in China’s coastal waters and the activities of Japan’s MSDF vessel there endangered the safety of Chinese boats, Hua said, adding that Beijing has expressed concerns to Tokyo over the issue.

“China is in close communication with Japan and hopes to find out the cause soon to avoid the recurrence of such incidents,” she added.

According to Japan’s Defense Ministry, the ship involved in the incident is the destroyer Shimakaze, which was on a patrol mission after departing the port of Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture on Sunday.

The destroyer received damage to its port side, Japan’s military said, adding that both the naval ship and the fishing boat, which had 13 crew members on board, were able to sail under their own power afterwards.

The Japanese defense ministry said it would cooperate with the Japanese coast guard’s investigation, while opening a probe within the MSDF as well.

According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, the site of the accident was far north of the Diaoyu islands.