Report on China’s Plans for Daily Patrols Around Senkaku Islands Raises Concerns in Japan

A Chinese coast guard vessel sails near disputed East China Sea islands on Aug. 6, 2016. 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters via AP

A story on the disputed Senkaku Islands has been trending on Japan’s Kyodo News since the first day of 2024. According to the report, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) instructed the China Coast Guard at the end of November last year that it would not surrender an inch over the Senkaku Islands issue.

The Senkaku Islands—also referred to as “Diaoyu Islands” by China—are located in the East China Sea and are currently a part of Japan.

However, China has claimed sovereignty over the islands since 1971, and the CCP has used the dispute to fuel anti-Japan sentiments and ultranationalism in China.

Japan says that the islands have been incorporated into Japanese territory since 1895 and continued to be a part of Japan under international law after World War II.

According to the Kyodo News report, the CCP will send ships daily to the waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands in 2024, where they are to board and inspect Japanese fishing vessels when deemed necessary.

This is the first time it has been revealed that Beijing plans to inspect Japanese fishing vessels. If this is the case, it could lead to conflicts with Japan Coast Guard vessels, escalating the dispute.

Regarding this report, The Epoch Times verified Chinese state media reports and found that Xinhua reported on Dec. 1 last year that Chinese leader Xi Jinping inspected the East China Sea command headquarters of the China Coast Guard on Nov. 29. Mr. Xi called for improving the ability to enforce Chinese law and sovereignty at sea and safeguarding Chinese territory and interests.

Although the report did not mention the Senkaku Islands, the day before, China Coast Guard vessels warned off Japanese ships that “illegally intruded” into the waters of the disputed islands. Beijing further demanded Japan stop all “illegal activities” in the area.

Although The Epoch Times cannot verify the Kyodo News report, the series of actions taken by the CCP seems to corroborate it.

A Japanese patrol plane flying over the disputed islets known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and Diaoyu Islands in China, located in the East China Sea on October 13, 2011. Muji has drawn the ire of Beijing over the Senkaku islands issue. Japan Pool/AFP/Getty Images

In response to the Kyodo News report, Yao Cheng, a U.S.-based former Chinese navy lieutenant colonel, told The Epoch Times that Mr. Xi is seeking to “light fires everywhere to distract the U.S. military forces” to ultimately achieve the goal of “reunification” with Taiwan.

“The CCP’s strategic objective is obvious,” Mr. Yao said.

“The Russia-Ukraine War is still ongoing, while the Israel-Hamas War started. These two conflicts have consumed massive amounts of U.S. resources and military intelligence focus,” he said.

“If the CCP started a conflict with the Philippines and then ignited a war with Japan, the U.S. military focus would be divided. In the end, it will be Taiwan’s turn.”

Mr. Yao believes that the CCP will seek to spread conflicts everywhere so that the U.S. military cannot cope with them simultaneously. In the CCP’s view, the Senkaku Islands, the Korean Peninsula, and the South China Sea are all regions where it can stir up conflicts to distract the U.S. military’s resources.

The ultimate goal that the CCP wishes to achieve is reunification with Taiwan by force.

Japan’s Concerns

On Dec. 31, 2023, the Japan Coast Guard confirmed that four China Coast Guard vessels were in the contiguous zone of the Senkaku Islands, about 22 kilometers outside territorial waters. For 352 days in 2023, China Coast Guard vessels have been in the area, which marked the most since Japan nationalized the ownership of the Senkaku Islands in 2012.

On Jan. 1, the China Coast Guard again had four vessels in the contiguous zone of the Senkaku Islands, one of which was armed with a machine gun. Japan Coast Guard vessels warned the Chinese vessels against approaching Japanese territorial waters.

Over the past few years, China has been implementing a protracted and gradual strategy in the Senkaku Islands, attempting to demonstrate its control and sovereignty over the disputed islands through its actions. Such moves have raised concerns in Japan.

In September last year, the Philippines removed floating barriers installed by the Chinese at a disputed reef in the South China Sea because they violated international law, posed a navigational hazard, and infringed on the sovereignty of the Philippines, which has also faced constant harassment and intimidation by the China Coast Guard in disputed regions.

A China Coast Guard ship blocks a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) ship as it neared the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sept. 22, 2023. Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images

Two months before the Philippines removed the barriers, China set up a 10-meter-wide survey buoy in the waters of the Senkaku Islands, located on the Japanese side of the median line between the territorial waters of China and Japan. The Chinese ocean observation buoy collects marine data and transmits it via satellite to the China Coast Guard.

Although the Japanese government requested China to remove the buoy, Japan did not remove it on their own initiative as the Philippines did. Japan simply chose to monitor it to avoid escalation with China.

De Facto Occupation

In Japan’s view, China’s move to place buoys in Japan’s contiguous zone and its intrusion into Japan’s territorial waters is the beginning of a quiet de facto occupation.

Since February last year, the China Coast Guard has been claiming that it repelled Japanese fishing vessels that have “illegally trespassed” into China’s territorial waters.”

Since then, there have been 17 incidents of tailing and expulsion of Japanese fishing vessels fishing around the Senkaku Islands.

Japan Coast Guard vessel PS206 Houou sails in front of Uotsuri island, one of the disputed islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea on Aug. 18, 2013. Ruairidh Villar/Reuters

In addition, two new developments have attracted Japan’s attention.

The first is that China Coast Guard vessels have stayed in Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands longer than before, increasing to over 80 hours on one occasion last year.

Secondly, since March, China Coast Guard vessels, after entering the waters around the Senkaku Islands, have been actively turning on their automatic identification system (AIS), which allows other vessels to know where they are. Previously, Chinese vessels would turn off the AIS after entering the area to make themselves invisible.

The Japan Coast Guard believes that China seeks to declare through its moves that it controls the Senkaku Islands.

Public Opinion in Japan

According to a December poll conducted by the Japanese Cabinet Office, 78.4 percent of respondents—3,000 people over 18 years old—were concerned about the Senkaku Islands issue, the highest percentage since the poll began in 2013.

Meanwhile, many in the Japanese press call for 2024 to be the year Japan legally asserts its sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in his New Year’s message for 2024 that in the new year, the Japanese government will make every effort to promote the development of Japan, and it will firmly defend its territories and airspace.

Xin Ning contributed to this report.