The unprecedented involvement of a navy frigate prompted the Japanese vice foreign minister to summon Chinese ambassador Cheng Yonghua at 2am, to express grave concern and and lodge a formal protest.
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Suga said Japan was analysing whether the Chinese and Russian moves were in anyway related.
A Japanese destroyer confirmed that a Chinese ship entered a protected zone northeast of Kuba island.
China’s defense ministry has made a response to a complaint from the Japanese government over a Chinese warship near the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
Countries can patrol their contiguous zone, adjacent to the disputed territory, for customs and immigration violations, but cannot prevent the passage by other nations’ vessels. Japan arrested a Chinese fishing captain after he twice rammed his boat against a Japanese naval vessel. However, until now both countries have restrained themselves from sending warships to nearby waters to avoid a flare up of tensions and a descent into armed combat.
While Chinese patrol vessels are often spotted close to or have even entered waters which Japan considers its own.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters the incident is a serious matter.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in a news conference the same day: “Together with the global community, we strongly urge China not to conduct any acts like this that will unilaterally heighten tensions”.
The South Carolina Air National Guard says two F-16 fighter jet pilots ejected safely after a midair collision over eastern Georgia.
The ship reportedly left the waters and headed north without intrusion to Japanese territorial waters, the ministry added. “No other country has the right to make thoughtless remarks about this”. Even more ambitiously, Japan has responded that it might be amenable to USA calls for regional powers to join freedom of navigation operations in waters far beyond the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s traditional domain in Japan’s near seas.
China, wary of U.S. and Japanese intentions is increasing its presence in the seas around it.
In 2014, Japan and China agreed to reduce tensions over the disputed islands.
Japan has demanded that China should not repeat such an incident that unilaterally heightens tensions.
Rising Tensions in the East China Sea?
The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.1%, amid subdued risk appetite as markets braced for weak May trade data out of China due on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a senior US State Department official used a telephone briefing to Australian journalists on Thursday to express concern that China’s ultimate goal in the South China Sea was to control movement of ships and planes through the strategic area that acts as a passageway for more than half the world’s commercial shipping.
China has said it does not recognise the jurisdiction of the Hague tribunal and will not abide by an unfavourable ruling.
Ms Willett avoided calling on Australia to join the USA in carrying out “freedom of navigation operations” as a challenge to China’s disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea.
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Now Beijing is trying to burnish a no-compromise stance on territorial issues in both seas, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Thursday told a press conference in Singapore.
