“We lodged a strong protest with China over the intrusion, urging China not to raise tensions in the area”, Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, told reporters Monday.
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Ramos and party recently left for Hong Kong “to rekindle ties with old Chinese friends for some back channeling talks or fishing trips” before embarking on official talks with China over the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) following his recent acceptance on his appointment by President Rodrigo Duterte as Special Envoy to China.
Located in the East China Sea, about 150 km northeast of Taiwan, the uninhabited Senkaku islands have a total surface area of about 7 sq.km and are reportedly rich in marine and energy resources.
China’s actions in the East China Sea may be an effort to deter its neighbors from working in concert against its interests, said Zhou Yongsheng, an global relations professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, especially after South Korea agreed to host a USA anti-ballistic missile system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad).
China’s project of creating whole new islands from sand piled atop coral reefs in the highly contested Spratly group has been a particular source of tension with the U.S. New satellite photos show work proceeding on what seem to be hardened concrete airplane hangars suitable for housing Chinese air force planes, including strategic bombers and inflight refuelers.
“We can not accept that (China) is taking actions that unilaterally raise tensions”.
Adding to tensions in the East China Sea, a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman noted on Sunday that authorities in Tokyo discovered that China had installed radar equipment on a gas platform, near disputed waters.
A USA guided-missile destroyer pulled into port in Qingdao on Monday for the first Navy port call to China since an global tribunal ruled that many of Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea were invalid.
Asked about others, such as China’s former deputy minister for Foreign Affairs Fu Ying, Ramos said he did not know yet.
The Japanese coastguard a day before caught sight of 15 Chinese coast guard ships near the islands – the highest number ever spotted. Japan called on China to adhere to the verdict, which it said was binding. Gun batteries were seen on several of the ships, officials said.
Ties around the region have been strained in the lead-up to and since The Hague ruling.
Other reports of harassment appear to show China’s determination to monopolize marine archaeology in the South China Sea, which is littered with the wrecks of ships of all nationalities.
The images came out almost a month after an global court in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines’ maritime case against China’s massive claims in the contested South China Sea, saying it had no legal basis.
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Beijing was incensed on Friday, accusing Japan’s new Defence Minister, Tomomi Inada, of recklessly misrepresenting history after she refused to say whether Japanese troops massacred civilians in China during the war.
