₱ China ships enter Japanese waters
TOKYO – Japan’s defense minister vowed yesterday to defend the country’s territory as three Chinese government ships entered disputed waters off Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea, the first such incident this year.
The Chinese coast guard vessels sailed into the 12-nauticalmile territorial waters at about 8:30 a.m. off one of the Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls the Diaoyus, Japan’s coast guard said. They left less than two hours later.
“We can never overlook repeated incursions into territorial waters,” Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters.
“We need to make diplomatic efforts on one hand. We also want to firmly defend our country’s territorial sea and land with the Self- Defense Forces cooperating with the coast guard,” he added.
Chinese state-owned ships and aircraft have approached the Senkakus on and off to demonstrate Beijing’s territorial claims, especially after Japan nationalized some of the islands in September 2012.
It was the fi rst time Chinese ships had been spotted since Dec. 29 when three coast guard ships entered the zone and stayed for around three hours, the Japan coast guard said.
Japanese coast guard patrol boats have tried to chase Chinese vessels away, fuelling tensions which some fear could spiral out of control into an armed clash.
Japan’s conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed no compromise on the sovereignty of the islands and recently announced a boost in military spending to beef-up the nation’s defense.
Fishing restrictions slammed
Japan yesterday joined the US in criticizing China’s new fishing restrictions in the South China Sea, saying the curbs, coupled with the launch last year of an air defense zone, have left the international community jittery.
Onodera made the comment after observing the Japanese Self-Defense Forces’ elite airborne brigade conducting airdrop drills designed to hone their skills to defend and retake remote islands.
“Setting something like this unilaterally as if you are treating your own territorial waters, and imposing certain restrictions on fishing boats is not something that is internationally tolerated,” Onodera told reporters.
“I’m afraid not only Japan but the international society as a whole has a concern that China is unilaterally threatening the existing international order” with its new restrictions in the South China Sea and the creation of an air defense identification zone, he said.
The fishing rules, approved by China’s southern Hainan province, took effect on Jan. 1 and require foreign fishing vessels to obtain approval to enter disputed waters in the South China Sea, which the local government says are under its jurisdiction.
Washington called the fishing rules “provocative and potentially dangerous,” prompting a rebuttal from China’s foreign ministry on Friday. –