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Chinese ships spotted near disputed East China Sea islets every day this year, Japan says
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.
“The government considers this series of navigations within the contiguous zone and intrusions into territorial waters an extremely serious matter,” he told reporters.
Hayashi said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had expressed concern over the issue at a bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Seoul on Sunday.
Kishida is in the South Korean capital for the first trilateral summit with Li and President Yoon Suk-yeol in nearly five years. It was held on Monday morning.
In April, Beijing lodged a protest with Tokyo after a group of Japanese lawmakers visited the disputed isles, a trip the Chinese embassy denounced as “provocative”.
After years of negotiations, the two countries have set up a military hotline to avert unexpected clashes in the East China Sea, with the first call held a year ago.