Chinese ships spend record time near Japanese-controlled islands, Tokyo says

CNN — Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — Chinese coast guard ships have been in the waters around Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea for a record 158 consecutive days, according to Tokyo's latest tally released Monday , surpassing the previous record set in 2021.

Analysts fear the uninhabited islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China, could become a flashpoint for conflict between the two Asian neighbors.

“The Japanese government takes very seriously the fact that there has been a succession of ships sailing in the contiguous zone and entering territorial waters,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said during a briefing. press conference Monday in Tokyo.

Japan's chief government spokesperson did not say how often Chinese ships enter Japanese territorial waters, although foreign ships are allowed to “pass innocently” through those waters.

A contiguous zone extends an additional 12 nautical miles beyond a country's territorial waters, the area that extends 12 nautical miles from the shore.

Foreign warships are allowed to enter the waters of the contiguous zone – the Chinese coast guard has therefore not violated any international agreements – but the continued presence of Chinese ships in this zone is considered a provocation.

Hayashi said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida raised Tokyo's “serious concerns” with Chinese Prime Minister Li Gongmin during a trilateral summit with South Korea in Seoul on Monday.

“We will continue to take all precautions and monitor the Senkaku Islands with a sense of urgency,” he said.

Competing claims

This chain of uninhabited islands has been a sore point in relations between Japan and China for years.

Claims to the rock range, located 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo but only about 205 miles (330 kilometers) from China's eastern coast, date back centuries, and neither Japan neither China is likely to back down on territory considered a national birthright in China. the two capitals.

Tensions escalated in 2012, after Tokyo purchased some islands from a private Japanese owner, which Beijing saw as a direct challenge to its sovereignty claims.

It has frequently sent Chinese coast guard and other government vessels into the waters around the islands to assert these claims.

“China's patrol and law enforcement missions in the waters off the Diaoyu Dao are legitimate measures taken by China to exercise its sovereignty in accordance with law and are necessary responses to Japanese provocations in violation of China’s sovereignty,” says a 2022 Chinese Foreign Ministry document.

“No country or force should disregard the Chinese government's firm determination to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it said.

Experts said China had made a statement and made a possible legal argument in favor of sovereignty over the islands by keeping government ships near them.

To assert an international legal claim to Japan's islands, “China must simply establish a larger and more lasting presence of its ships in the waters around the islands,” James Brown, associate professor of political science at Temple University in Tokyo, told CNN in 2022.

Hayashi, the Japanese government spokesman, said Monday that Tokyo was responding to the Chinese presence around the islands with its own ships.

“We guarantee a comprehensive security system for territorial waters by deploying Coast Guard patrol vessels that are consistently superior to the capacity of other parties,” Hayashi said.

Any Japan-China incident in the Senkakus raises the risk of a broader conflict, analysts note, due to the mutual defense treaty between Japan and the United States.

Washington has repeatedly made clear that it considers the Senkakus to be covered by the mutual defense agreement.

China exerts pressure at sea

The expanded Chinese presence around the Senkakus comes as Chinese forces assert themselves in two other East Asian hotspots – around Taiwan and near Philippine-controlled areas in the South China Sea.

China held its biggest military exercises this year around Taiwan last week after the island's new democratically elected leader, President Lai Ching-te, openly hated by Beijing for defending sovereignty and distinct identity of the island, took the oath.

China's ruling Communist Party says Taiwan is part of its territory, even though it has never controlled it, and has vowed to take the island, by force if necessary.

And in the South China Sea, the Chinese coast guard took action against Philippine ships attempting to resupply a contingent of Philippine marines on Second Thomas Shoal, using water cannons that injured Filipino sailors and damaged their boats.

The developments come as leaders and military officials prepare to gather in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's first defense summit.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to deliver the opening speech Friday evening, with Sino-Filipino clashes over the Second Thomas Bench likely a major topic.

The US and Chinese defense chiefs are also expected to speak at the conference.

CNN's Himari Semans contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire and © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. company. Discovery. All rights reserved.