Japan issued a new protest to Beijing on August 6 after Chinese coastguard ships and about 230 fishing vessels sailed close to what Tokyo considers its territorial waters around disputed islets in the East China Sea, Japan's foreign ministry said.
Three of the six Chinese coastguard ships that were in the so-called contiguous waters on August 6 appeared to be armed, Japan's coastguard said.
On Friday, a Japanese foreign ministry official said Chinese coastguard ships and fishing vessels had entered what Tokyo considers its territorial waters around the islets.
Beijing claims the uninhabited, Tokyo-controlled East China Sea islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, and occasionally sends its coastguard vessels close to them.
A senior Japanese foreign ministry official on Saturday issued a protest to a Chinese embassy official in Tokyo, calling on the coastguard ships to leave the area immediately and condemning the action as a unilateral escalation of tensions, the ministry said.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama had on Friday summoned China's ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, to lodge a strong protest, the ministry said.
China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, in a statement posted on the ministry's website, said China had indisputable sovereignty over the islands and nearby waters.
"At the same time, China is adopting measures to appropriately manage the situation in relevant waters," Hua said.
Japan should make "constructive efforts for stability" and not take actions that might complicate the situation, she said, without elaborating.
Japan protests after Chinese coastguards and fishing boats sail near disputed islets
Japan issued a new protest to Beijing on August 6 after Chinese coastguard ships and about 230 fishing vessels sailed close to what Tokyo considers its territorial waters around disputed islets in the East China Sea, Japan's foreign ministry said.
Source: Nhan Dan
