China insists survey ship’s passage close to Japanese island was ‘completely legal’ – MASHAHER

ISLAM GAMAL2 September 2024Last Update :
China insists survey ship’s passage close to Japanese island was ‘completely legal’ – MASHAHER


China has confirmed that one of its naval surveying vessels sailed close to Japanese territory over the weekend, but insisted it was a “legal passage” through international waters.

Tokyo has expressed “strong concern” and lodged a protest with the Chinese embassy over the incident, which happened days after a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft entered Japanese airspace.

The Japanese defence ministry said the ship spent around two hours in the country’s territorial waters off the southwest of Kuchinoerabu, a small island in the Tokara Strait to the southwest of the country’s four biggest islands.

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Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said on Monday there was “no need to deliberately link or over-interpret” the two incidents.

She said the ship “was exercising its rights of transit” and the passage was “completely legitimate and legal”.

“According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Tokara Strait is used for international navigation,” she said.

The Chinese naval survey vessel pictured near the Japanese island in an photo issued by the Japanese defence ministry’s joint staff office. Photo: AFP alt=The Chinese naval survey vessel pictured near the Japanese island in an photo issued by the Japanese defence ministry’s joint staff office. Photo: AFP>

Japan’s foreign ministry said Namazu Hiroyuki, the director general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, had lodged a protest with the Chinese embassy in Tokyo and received an explanation.

The protest also took into account “the recent intrusion into Japan’s territorial airspace by a Chinese military plane”, according to the ministry.

Last Tuesday a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance plane entered Japan’s airspace above the southeastern Danjo-gunto islands for about two minutes.

Japan said the incursion was “utterly unacceptable” and foreign vice-minister, Okano Masataka summoned Shi Yong, the interim charge d’affaires to issue a “very severe protest”

Beijing said it has “no intention of breaching any country’s airspace” adding that it had “maintained communication through existing working channels”.

Saturday’s incident was the 10th time Chinese survey ships have entered waters administered by the Kagoshima prefecture since November 2021, according to Kyodo News.

Japan has repeatedly raised concern about Chinese military activities in the East China Sea and has confronted Chinese coastguards in waters around the disputed Diaoyu, or Senkaku islands. In recent years, the country has also been increasing defence spending and strengthening security ties with the US and its allies.

On Friday the defence ministry requested a record budget of 8.5 trillion yen (US$59 billion) for next year, citing threats from China, especially to its southwest island chain which includes Okinawa.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.




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