SIX Chinese government ships sailed into waters around disputed islands claimed by both Beijing and Tokyo early Friday, the Japanese coastguard said, adding it had issued warnings telling them to leave.
The arrival came just days after the Japanese government completed its planned nationalisation of the islands, which it administers and knows as Senkaku, but which China claims as Diaoyu.
“Our patrol vessels are currently telling them to leave our country’s territorial waters,” the coastguard said in a statement.
Under international law, territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles from the coast of a landmass.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda vowed to maintain utmost vigilance after the coast guard said that two Chinese maritime survey ships entered Japanese waters around 6:18 am (2118 GMT Thursday).
They were followed by a group of four other ships that sailed into the waters claimed by Japan, shortly after 7:00 am, the coastguard said.
The first two ships left the waters around 7:48 am, the coastguard added.
In a dispatch from Beijing, China’s state Xinhua news agency said: “Two Chinese surveillance ship fleets have arrived in waters around Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands Friday and started patrol and law enforcement there.”
The disputed archipelago in the East China Sea is around 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Naha, the main city of Okinawa, and 200 kilometres from Taiwan. –AFP