China accuses Japanese vessel of ‘illegally’ entering disputed waters

A China coastguard vessel sails near a Japan coastguard vessel off one of the disputed islands that form what are known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China, in April 2024 [Kyodo via Reuters]

China’s coastguard said it ordered a Japanese fishing vessel to leave the country’s territorial waters after it “illegally” entered an area surrounding a disputed group of islands in the East China Sea.

A spokesperson for Beijing’s coastguard said on Thursday it “took necessary control measures in accordance with the law, warned [the ship] and expelled it” during the incursion into waters around the Diaoyu Islands – which Tokyo calls the Senkaku Islands – on October 15-16.