TOKYO - Chinese coast guard vessels escorted a state-owned oceanographic survey ship inside Japan's exclusive economic zone east of Taiwan earlier in June, underscoring Beijing's hard-line posture as it seeks to secure maritime interests and adding a new flashpoint to already chilled Japan-China ties.
The operation was conducted almost entirely within Japan's EEZ shortly after an armed vessel had intruded into Japanese waters, suggesting "they intend to intimidate Japan," an official in Tokyo fumed.
The China Coast Guard vessels Haijing 2304 and 2502 sailed alongside the Xiang Yang Hong 22 survey ship while it operated inside Japan's EEZ for three days from June 16, an analysis of automatic identification system data by geospatial intelligence firm ingeniSPACE showed.
Earlier on June 10, the Haijing 2304, equipped with a 76-millimeter rapid-fire gun with a range of more than 10 kilometers, was spotted entering Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa together with three other China Coast Guard vessels.
BROADER PICTURE
The incidents are part of a broader and intensifying pattern. On June 28, the Japan Coast Guard confirmed a Chinese survey ship lowering what appeared to be pipes into the sea in Japan's EEZ roughly 57 km west-southwest of Uotsuri Island in the Senkakus.
Japan coast guard vessels demanded via radio that the activities cease, on the grounds that scientific surveys within the zone require Tokyo's prior consent. Similar activity believed to involve Chinese surveys has been observed repeatedly since the end of March.
The latest move is believed triggered after a May 28 joint statement by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. included plans to begin negotiations toward delimiting their nations' EEZ boundary.
The Chinese government protested the next day, saying the waters covered by Japan and the Philippines included an area east of Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing regards as part of its territory.
ESCALATION
The coast guard escort, on top of territorial incursions and unsanctioned marine surveys, suggests China is escalating from diplomatic protest to active enforcement to assert de facto jurisdiction over disputed waters -- an approach that mirrors Beijing's behavior in the South China Sea -- according to Japanese experts.
Some officials within the Japanese government had opposed starting delimitation talks with the Philippines, warning it would provoke a backlash from China, but to their surprise, "The move to exercise jurisdiction came so quickly," a source close to the prime minister's office said.
A source related to the Chinese military, under which the China Coast Guard operates, said of the coast guard actions, "Japan and the Philippines brought this on themselves. They gave us a chance to exercise jurisdiction."
After the survey ship ended its activities, a social media account affiliated with state-run China Central Television posted an article saying the country, by grasping natural resources in the waters east of Taiwan through surveys, can build a foundation for the development and protection of "national maritime territory." China is also looking ahead to laying undersea cables and developing seabed resources
"Japanese aircraft and Taiwanese vessels interfered with the survey activities, but we carried them out resolutely and achieved fruitful results," a crew member of the ship Xiang Yang Hong 22 told Chinese media on June 22.
Since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's parliamentary remarks last November about a Taiwan contingency, dialogue between the Japanese and Chinese governments has been cut off, leaving issues in security and economic fields unresolved.
"As communication with the Chinese side has broken down, we now face one more difficult security challenge," a former senior Japanese government official lamented.
