Japan Protests China's Demand to Halt Survey in EEZ

Tokyo (ANTARA) - The Chinese coast guard demanded a Japanese coast guard vessel halt a marine survey within Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the East China Sea, prompting Tokyo to lodge a protest with Beijing. The Japan Coast Guard stated on Wednesday that its survey vessel, Takuyo, received repeated requests since Tuesday around 10 p.m. local time to stop the marine survey and leave the waters, located approximately 290 kilometres northwest of the main island of Okinawa in southern Japan. According to the coast guard, Takuyo responded that its research—a seabed survey related to the continental shelf—was a legitimate activity conducted in accordance with international law. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said in a press conference that Japan had lodged a protest with China through diplomatic channels. Kihara also stated that the demand to halt the marine survey was unacceptable because the activity was being carried out within Japan’s EEZ. “We are firmly determined to protect our nation’s territory, territorial waters, airspace, and sovereign rights,” Kihara, the government’s top spokesperson, said, adding that Japan would respond to the matter with a “resolute and calm” attitude. The move comes amid ongoing strained relations between the two countries following remarks by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in parliament last November, which suggested that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a response from Japan’s Self-Defence Forces in support of the United States military. In recent years, Japan has repeatedly encountered Chinese survey vessels lowering cable-like objects into the waters near the Senkaku Islands—uninhabited islets in the East China Sea controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing.