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Updated August 28th, 2021 at 21:37 IST

Chinese ships enter Japan's territorial waters in East China Sea as tensions spike

In the intrusion by China’s authoritarian government, its two patrol ships entered Japanese territorial waters near Senkaku Islands in the East China sea.

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
japanese
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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In another intrusion by China’s authoritarian government, its two patrol ships entered Japan’s territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on August 28. As per ANI, initially, four ships in total were spotted in the area bordering waters claimed by Japan. Reportedly, then two of the ships entered the waters and even attempted to approach a Japanese fishing vessel. As per the report, the Saturday intrusion was also the 32nd time that Chinese vessels entered Japan’s territorial waters in 2021. 

Even though Japan controls the Senkaku Islands, China and Taiwan continue to claim them. Senkaku Islands in Japan are termed Diaoyu Islands in China. As per international law and Japan’s history, it maintains the islands which are also an inherent part of its territory. However, facing harsh criticism, China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea. China’s claims have increased tensions in the region as the territorial disputes overlap with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. 

The Chinese government has also ramped up its maritime activities in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea especially in the last few months in response to Beijing's concerns over the increasing presence of the US military in the region amid escalating Sino-US tensions. Earlier, China raised concerns over the passage of a United States Navy warship and Coast Guard cutter through the waters between China and Taiwan.

Notably, Taiwan is a self-governing island claimed by Beijing. On Friday, USS Kidd guided-missile destroyer and Coast Guard cutter Munro sailed through the Taiwan strait as the country moves to increase its presence in Asia. Chinese Defence Ministry protested against the move and ‘strongly condemned’ the exercise. 

Beijing reacts to Japan-Taiwan security dialogue

Further impacting China-Japan relations, Beijing reacted harshly to Tokyo snubbing the warnings against holding the “2+2” meeting with Taiwan. On August 27, China warned Japan to cease interfering in what it calls its ‘internal affairs.’ Japan held a dialogue with Taiwan citing an impact on its economy as both countries moved ahead with enhancing the bilateral ties to tackle China’s aggression.

Home to at least 23.6 million people, Taiwan split from China during a civil war that drove the Communist Party in Beijing to take control of the mainland in 1949. However, China continues to claim Taiwan as its own ‘breakaway province’ and has criticised any independent diplomatic relations that the island develops with other nations. 

IMAGE: AP
 

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Published August 28th, 2021 at 21:37 IST

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