Japan Intercepts Armed Chinese Flotilla Near Disputed Islands in the East China Sea.

Nation and State ^ | 01/30/2023 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

The Japanese government has lashed out at Beijing, condemning an incident wherein a flotilla of Chinese government vessels breached Japan-claimed waters around the around the disputed Senkaku islands in the East China Sea.

Tokyo has lodged a formal diplomatic complaint after a Japanese-registered private vessel operating within Japanese-controlled waters was approached by four Chinese Coast Guard ships in the early morning hours of Monday. Tokyo says its coast guard patrols forced the Chinese ships to depart the area.

Illustrative file image, via Kyodo News

The encounter was tense, based on the description given to US military news outlet Stars & Stripes, which recounted that "The first Chinese ship approached Minamikojima from the southeast and entered the 12-mile limit at 2:47 a.m., according to the coast guard spokesman. He said the vessel appeared to be armed with a deck-mounted machine-gun."

Three more Chinese ships followed the first armed patrol, after which "A contingent of Japan Coast Guard vessels positioned themselves between the Chinese and Japanese ships and warned the Chinese vessels to leave the area," according to Japanese officials. "The first Chinese vessel departed the waters south of Uotsurijima at 12:35 p.m."

As for the Chinese side, which doesn't recognize Japanese sovereignty over the islands or the surrounding waters, its Marine Police spokesperson Gan Yu said it responded to multiple Japanese ships "illegally" entering the waters of the the Diaoyu islands (China's recognized name for the Senkakus).

"We urge the Japanese side to immediately stop all illegal activities in these waters and ensure that similar incidents will not happen again," Gan said.

The Chinse incursion near the islands was the second this year, after a Jan.10 incident. The longtime dispute has helped to worse Japan-China relations, also at a moment Tokyo's deepened military cooperation with Washington has angered Beijing.

Starting last year the US began pledging military support to Japan in the event of a Chinese attack on the Senkakus. The Biden White House position, recently reaffirmed to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is that the islands fall under Article V of the Japan-US Security Treaty, which is the basis for mutual defense.

[NWFree]

“ Tokyo has lodged a formal diplomatic complaint ”

That’s some pretty scare stuff 😏

[Don W]

I certainly hope that the JNSDF has more than a few AIP subs on patrol.

Things are getting very interesting in Asian waters...

[BobL]

China sure know how to deck-out their Coast Guard ships - ours are tiny speedboats.

[ifinnegan]

This has been going on for decades.

[VanShuyten]

“ China sure know how to deck-out their Coast Guard ships - ours are tiny speedboats.”

You should compare their fishing boats (gray fleet) to ours.

“ Since early March, up to 220 boats from China’s maritime militia have been moored near Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea. The Philippine government has asked the Chinese government to direct the ships to leave its exclusive economic zone, but Beijing has denied that the ships are part of the militia, saying they are merely “fishing boats” sheltering from sea conditions. These actions fit a recent pattern of Chinese leaders turning to irregular warfare to achieve strategic aims in the South China Sea: China sends its maritime militia to a location in the South China Sea to reinforce Chinese sovereignty claims and then ratchets up control with little involvement by conventional forces.”

https://mwi.usma.edu/chinas-irregular-approach-to-war-the-myth-of-a-purely-conventional-future-fight/

[joe fonebone]

Interesting graphic....
Shows some islands, with nice little colored dots and some distances, with a key box that has no key....