Chinese and Japanese boats face off near disputed islands as feud worsens

China and Japan’s coast guards have given different accounts of a confrontation that occurred near a group of geopolitically sensitive islands in the East China Sea.

China’s Coast Guard said on Tuesday that a Japanese fishing vessel had illegally entered the waters of the Diaoyu Islands – which Tokyo calls the Senkaku Islands. China claims them as their territory, despite the islands being administered by Japan.

Japan’s Coast Guard, meanwhile, said it intercepted and expelled two Chinese Coast Guard ships as they approached the fishing vessel.

The confrontation comes as diplomatic ties between the two nations spiral, after Japan’s leader made controversial comments about Taiwan last month.While responding to a question in parliament in November, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, known to be a vocal critic of China and its activities in the region, suggested that Tokyo could take military action if Beijing attacked Taiwan.

Beijing views self-governed Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to “reunite” with it.

Both sides have since engaged in increasingly hostile rhetoric towards each other, with the widening rift affecting daily life for citizens in both countries.

Taiwan is located about 160km south-west of the Senkaku Islands.

China Coast Guard (CCG) spokesperson Liu Dejun said that Chinese vessels on Tuesday approached and warned off a Japanese fishing boat that had “illegally entered the territorial waters of China’s Diaoyu Dao”, according to a state media report.

Liu added that the CCG took “necessary law enforcement measures”, claiming that the islands were Chinese territory and urging Japan to “immediately stop all acts of infringement and provocation in these waters”.

The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) offered a slightly different account, saying they approached the Chinese vessels shortly after they were seen entering Japanese waters in the early hours of Tuesday and issued a demand that they leave the waters.

The JCG’s patrol ship ensured the fishing boat’s safety until the CCG left the territory a few hours later, it said.

While Japan and China made an in-principle agreement in 2008 to jointly exploit resources in the East China Sea, the waterway that separates the two countries, tensions have escalated over the past decade-and-a-half.

The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which are uninhabited, represent a flash point in these tensions.

China has sent an increasing number of ships towards the islands, in what appears to be an attempt to test Japan’s resolve to defend them. Last year, the number of days Chinese government vessels were spotted in the territory hit a record high for the third consecutive year. There were also a record number of CCG vessels operating in the waters.

Prior to the events of Tuesday morning, the CCG last entered the waters surrounding the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands on 16 November, conducting what it described at the time as “a lawful patrol operation conducted by the China coast guard to uphold its rights and interests”./BBC/