Japan protests as China ships sail near disputed Island

TIL Desk/World/Tokyo-Tokyo protested to Beijing today after Chinese coast guard ships sailed into territorial waters surrounding disputed islands in the East China Sea, Japan said. Four Chinese vessels entered the waters surrounding islets, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, around 10.00 AM local time, according to Japan Coast Guard.

They left the territorial waters within an hour, the coast guard said. The two countries are locked in a long-running dispute over the uninhabited islets. Tokyo has lodged at least 32 protests through diplomatic channels since August 5 over what it says have been about 30 intrusions by Chinese vessels in the territorial waters.

The director general of the Japanese foreign ministry’s Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, Kenji Kanasugi, issued a protest today to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, saying that the ships’ “incursion” violated Japan’s sovereignty, the ministry said in a statement.