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Chinese ships spotted near disputed East China Sea islets every day this year, Japan says
- Tokyo’s top government spokesman on Monday described the series of ‘intrusions into territorial waters’ as ‘an extremely serious matter’
- The territorial dispute over the Tokyo-controlled Diayou Islands, known in Japan as the Senkakus, is a long-running sore point between the countries
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Japan has spotted Chinese ships sailing near disputed islands in the East China Sea for a record 158 consecutive days, Tokyo’s top government spokesman said on Monday.
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The territorial dispute over the Tokyo-controlled Diayou Islands, known in Japan as the Senkakus, is a long-running sore point between the countries.
Relations deteriorated in 2012 when Tokyo “nationalised” some of these remote islands, and Japanese officials regularly protest against the presence of Chinese coastguard and other vessels in the surrounding waters.
On Monday, Japan’s coastguard observed four China Maritime Police Bureau vessels sailing in the “contiguous” zone adjacent to Japan’s territorial sea near the island chain.
Contiguous waters are a 12-nautical-mile band that extends beyond territorial waters.
It was the 158th consecutive day that Chinese vessels were spotted there – surpassing the previous record of 157 days in 2021, top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said. That means Japan has spotted Chinese ships near the islets every day since December 21 last year.
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