Tokyo, March 25 Japan has raised serious concerns over the recent, and one of the longest, intrusion by the Chinese Coast Guard ships in the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed islets in the East China Sea.
Marking the longest intrusion in the territorial waters of Japan, Chinese Coast Guard ships left on Monday night after sailing for 92 hours and 8 minutes near the disputed Senkaku islands.
The amount of activity by Chinese vessels near the Senkaku Islands is "clearly escalating," Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Monday.
His remarks came as the Chinese Coast Guard ships continued to operate within Japan's territorial seas near the uninhabited islands since the early hours of Friday, reports the leading Japanese news agency, Kyodo News.
Iwaya also told a Diet committee session that during his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday in Tokyo, he conveyed the concerns of Japan about the presence of the Chinese ships.
Meanwhile, an opposition Japanese lawmaker questioned Iwaya relating to this at the parliamentary session. The opposition leader said that the Chinese ships' intrusion taking place during the bilateral foreign ministerial talks of both the nations was "extremely inappropriate."
In response, Iwaya said that the meeting took place in "a conciliatory and friendly atmosphere," but it is "truly regrettable" that the intrusion happened.
"So we will deal with this issue in a resolute and calm manner," Iwaya added.
The dispute over the Senkaku Islands between Japan, China, and Taiwan is several decades old. The group of tiny, uninhabited islets and rocks in the East China Sea is administered by Japan. It is referred to as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the Diaoyu Islands in China, and the Diaoyutai Islands in Taiwan.
Senkaku has strategic significance as it is close to important shipping lanes, offers rich fishing grounds and has the potential of oil reserves. It has also become a proxy battlefield in the growing Sino-US tussle for influence in the Indo-Pacific. Japan remains a key ally of the US.
Japan has consistently maintained that there has never been any agreement with China to "shelve" issues regarding the Senkaku Islands.
"The assertion that such an agreement exists directly contradicts China's actions to change the status quo through force or coercion. In 1992, China enacted the Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, explicitly delineating its claim over the islands as part of Chinese territory. Since 2008, China has been sending government ships to the waters off the Senkaku Islands, and has repeatedly made incursions into Japanese territorial waters," maintains the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
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