21 hours ago NHK World

Two Chinese patrol ships have temporarily entered Japan’s territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The patrol ships exited the waters after attempting to approach a Japanese fishing boat.

The Japan Coast Guard has been warning the vessels not to reenter Japan’s waters.

The Coast Guard says two of the four Chinese patrol vessels that had been sailing just outside the territorial waters made the intrusion off Taisho Island shortly before 11 a.m. on Thursday. Taisho is one of the Senkaku Islands.

Coast Guard officials say the Chinese ships sailed in Japan’s waters for an hour and a half and left the waters by half past noon.

The Japan Coast Guard says that as of 3 p.m., four Chinese vessels, including the two that had made intrusion on the same day, were sailing just outside Japan’s waters off Taisho Island.

The two vessels, which made intrusion on Thursday, had stayed in Japan’s waters off the Senkaku Islands for more than 57 hours from Sunday morning to Tuesday evening, and attempted to approach a Japanese fishing boat.

It was the longest intrusion since Japan’s government purchased some of the Senkaku Islands from a private Japanese owner in 2012.

Japan controls the islands. China and Taiwan claim them. The Japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of Japan’s territory, in terms of history and international law. It says there is no issue of sovereignty to be resolved over them.