Tensions are rising again between Beijing and Tokyo. A Chinese aircraft carrier and two warships sailed between two Japanese islands, near Taiwan. “Totally unacceptable,” Tokyo responded on Wednesday.
“Following the recent violation of airspace by Chinese military aircraft and the movements of Chinese warships and other vessels around Japan, this incident is totally unacceptable from a security perspective for Japan and the region,” Japanese government spokesman Hiroshi Moriya said. “We have expressed our serious concerns to China through diplomatic channels,” the spokesman said.
Beijing quickly responded by saying it saw nothing wrong with the incident. “I want to emphasize and point out that these activities by China are in line with Chinese law and international law,” Lin Jian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said in response to a question about Japan’s protest.
The Japanese military said “the aircraft carrier Liaoning and two guided-missile destroyers” had been spotted in the southern Okinawa region, between the islands of Yonaguni and Iriomote. “This is the first time that it has been confirmed that an aircraft carrier belonging to the Chinese Navy has sailed in the waters between Yonaguni and Iriomote,” the Japanese Defense Ministry’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
Without actually entering Japanese territorial waters, the Chinese flotilla entered Japan’s “contiguous waters,” an area that borders its territorial maritime zone. Contiguous waters are a 22-kilometer (12-nautical-mile) strip that extends beyond Japanese territorial waters.
This intrusion comes as the Japanese archipelago strongly condemned, at the beginning of the month, the incursion into its territorial waters of a Chinese navy ship, off the southern islands, for nearly two hours.
Chinese military influence
A few days earlier, Tokyo had scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese military aircraft “violated” its airspace. A Chinese military “Y-9 spy plane” penetrated Japanese airspace on August 26 for about two minutes, off the Danjo Islands in the East China Sea.
China’s growing economic and military influence in the Asia-Pacific region and its claims – particularly regarding Taiwan, which it considers one of its provinces – worry the United States and its allies.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea – through which billions of dollars of trade pass each year – despite a 2016 ruling by the International Court of Justice that its claims have no legal basis.
Japan, staunchly pacifist for decades, has increased its defense spending, equipping itself with “counter-strike” capabilities and relaxing rules on arms exports. Along with the United States, Australia and India, Japan is part of the Quad alliance, a group seen as a bulwark against China.
Japanese and Chinese vessels have been involved in past incidents over disputed areas, particularly the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, also known as the Diaoyu Islands by Beijing. The island chain has also been the scene of clashes between Japanese coast guard vessels and Chinese fishing boats.