Japan claimed that four China Coast Guard ships entered its territorial waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands on Monday and approached Japanese vessels sailing in the area, according to local media.
The Japan Coast Guard said that Chinese vessels approached a 997-ton Shinsei Maru ship and Japanese fishing boats near the islands between 2.47 a.m. and 6.07 a.m. (local time) on Monday.
In response, the China Coast Guard accused the Shinsei Maru and four other Japanese ships of “illegally entering” China’s territorial waters off the Diaoyu Islands—the Chinese name for the Senkaku Islands—and said that it took action to drive them away.
The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have mostly been administered by Japan since 1895, but Beijing began asserting its rights over the islands in the 1970s.
South China Sea Dispute
Beijing has also increased its military presence in the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely under its so-called “nine-dash line” despite competing claims from other nations, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan.The U.N. Ocean Conference has met three times over territorial disputes related to the South China Sea over a space of 20 years. Representatives of the involved countries all reached a final agreement in 1982 and signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The Convention entered into force on Nov. 16, 1994. China is one of more than 150 countries that signed the Convention.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines with regard to its claims on the South China Sea and ruled that Beijing’s claims lacked any legal basis.
But the verdict has had little impact on Beijing’s behavior, with it continuing to pursue its claims to vast swathes of the sea.
Both countries “strongly opposed” actions that would exacerbate tensions in the East and South China Seas, underscoring the need for a rules-based approach to resolving competing claims in maritime areas within the framework of international law.
They called for the implementation of a code of conduct consistent with the Law of the Sea without jeopardizing the legitimate rights of all stakeholders in the disputed sea, according to the statement.