The Japanese government has confirmed that multiple vessels from Mainland China's Coast Guard regularly navigated in June in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) south of Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture, and have begun escorting Chinese research and official vessels, exercising jurisdiction. This sea area is located east of Taiwan, and while Beijing has consistently claimed jurisdiction, actual exercises of power have been extremely rare.
Kyodo News reported the above information on Sunday (June 28), stating that this reflects Beijing’s clear confrontational posture in response to Japan and the Philippines designating the sea area as a target for “maritime boundary negotiations.”
According to reports, the Japanese government has dispatched patrol ships and fixed-wing aircraft from the Japan Coast Guard to the surrounding waters to strengthen surveillance of the Coast Guard vessels. As China has begun exercising jurisdiction, Japan–China relations could further deteriorate.
The movements of the Chinese Coast Guard vessels were analyzed using data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) by geospatial intelligence company ingeniSPACE (Taipei), as well as by Yasuki Mouri, Associate Professor of Modern China Studies at Doshisha University, Japan. AIS is a radio-based tracking and positioning system applied in the maritime field.
The movements of the Chinese Coast Guard vessels were analyzed using data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) by geospatial intelligence company ingeniSPACE (Taipei), as well as by Yasuki Mouri, Associate Professor of Modern China Studies at Doshisha University, Japan. AIS is a radio-based tracking and positioning system applied in the maritime field.
After Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reached a consensus on May 28 to begin maritime boundary negotiations, China's Coast Guard has continuously sent vessels to navigate the waters east of Taiwan. Mainland China has improved its domestic laws through the 1992 “Territorial Sea Law,” and has consistently claimed jurisdiction over the waters off the east coast of Taiwan.