Japan protests after Chinese warship sails near disputed islands

Japan said a Chinese frigate sailed within 24 miles (38 kms) of the contested territory, the islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, shortly after Wednesday midnight. Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki summoned the Chinese ambassador in Tokyo to “express a serious concern,” the government said in a statement. 

Japanese and Chinese coastguard vessels frequently face off around the islands as both sides press their claims. Until now neither has dispatched warships to nearby waters, because doing so would inflame tensions and remove a buffer against potential armed conflict. “We are worried that this action raises tensions to a higher level,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press briefing in Tokyo. “Related ministries are working together to deal with this and we will work closely with the US,” Suga said. 

China’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday it was looking into the reports that one of its navy ships sailed close to the disputed islands, adding its navy had every right to operate in Chinese waters. “Chinese naval ships sailing through waters our country has jurisdiction over is reasonable and legal. No other country has the right to make thoughtless remarks about this,” it said in a statement. 

Complicating the situation for Tokyo, three Russian naval vessels also sailed close to the islands at around the same time as the Chinese warship, raising concern in Japan of a coordinated show of force by Beijing and Moscow.

Russia and Japan are locked in a separate territorial dispute over the return of islands seized by Moscow at the end of World War Two. The incidents come as Japan, the United States and India prepare to begin a major joint naval exercise, dubbed Malabar, from Friday in the nearby Western Pacific.