Japan Lodged Protests Over China ships in disputed waters

TOKYO: Japan lodged a protest with China after two Chinese survey ships entered waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary said on Monday.

The Japanese coast guard found the ships in waters near the islands around 8:00 a.m. (2300 GMT Sunday), Takeo Kawamura told reporters. Both ships left Japanese waters later in the day, the coast guard said.

“It goes without saying that historically speaking, the Senkaku islands are part of Japan’s territory. The actions of the Chinese ships are extremely regrettable,” Kawamura said. “We immediately urged the Chinese government to remove the ships.”

The incident comes days before a trilateral summit between Japanese, Chinese and South Korean leaders, set to take place in southern Japan on Saturday.

“This has happened just as we are about to hold a summit meeting,” Kawamura added, saying he had no idea what kind of survey the ships had planned to carry out.

The disputed, uninhabited islands about 2,000 km south of Tokyo are thought to lie near oil and gas reserves in an area rich with fish, and have long been a source of friction between China, Japan and Taiwan.

Beijing claims them as the Diaoyu islands, Taiwan as Tiaoyutai and Japan, which now controls the islands, as the Senkaku isles.

After Japan’s protest, China said it would look into the matter, said Yasuhisa Kawamura, deputy spokesman at Japan’s foreign ministry.

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