Japan has formally protested to China after a Chinese naval survey vessel entered its territorial waters on Saturday, marking the second such incursion within a week. The incident, which occurred off the coast of Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan, has heightened concerns in Tokyo about increasing Chinese military activity in the region.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense reported that the Chinese vessel was detected early in the morning at around 6 a.m. local time and remained within Japan’s territorial waters for nearly two hours before leaving.
This marks the tenth time in the past year that a Chinese naval survey ship has sailed through Japan’s territorial waters, and the 13th time when including submarines and other intelligence-gathering vessels, as reported by national broadcaster NHK.
In response to the incursion, Japan’s foreign ministry lodged a “strong concern and protest” with a Chinese embassy official in Tokyo. The ministry’s statement also referenced a separate incident earlier in the week, where a Chinese military plane violated Japanese airspace on Monday. Japanese diplomats described the airspace violation as “utterly unacceptable.”
In recent years, Chinese naval ships repeatedly entered Japan’s territorial waters in the East China Sea, around the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which China also claims part of its territory and calls Diaoyu.
