Chinese Ships Enter Disputed Waters 100 Consecutive Days

Chinese vessels have entered waters around a group of contested East China Sea islets for the 101st day in a row, Japan says. The Japanese maritime authorities said four China Coast Guard vessels entered waters near the Tokyo-administered Senkaku Islands, known in Beijing as the Diaoyu Islands. Beijing claims the Senkakus are its inherent territory, while Tokyo maintains there was no evidence of Chinese ownership when Japan took control over them in 1895. On Sunday Japan's coast guard said it had spotted the Chinese ships sailing in the Senkaku's contiguous zone, a buffer area extending 12 nautical miles from territorial waters. A Japanese patrol boat reportedly contacted its Chinese counterparts by radio, warning them not to enter the territorial waters. Beijing has significantly ramped up its coast guard presence in the disputed waters in recent years, first in 2012 in response to Tokyo's move to nationalize the islets, and then even more substantially in 2019. In February, the most recent month for which there is publicly available data, Japan recorded 114 Chinese ships in the Senkaku's contiguous zone and four in its territorial waters.