Japan Contests Passage of Chinese Aircraft Carrier Near Japanese Islands

The Japanese government today called the passage of a Chinese aircraft carrier between two Japanese islands near Taiwan “totally unacceptable”.

“We consider this incident totally unacceptable from the point of view of security for Japan,” said Japanese government spokesman Hiroshi Moriya.

 

“We have expressed our serious concerns to China through diplomatic channels,” he added.

Beijing reacted quickly, saying that it saw nothing wrong with the incident.

“I want to stress that China's activities are in line with Chinese and international law,” said Lin Jian, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry.

The Japanese army said that “the aircraft carrier Liaoning and two missile destroyers” were sighted in the south of the Okinawa region, between the islands of Yonaguni and Iriomote.

“This is the first time it has been confirmed that a Chinese navy aircraft carrier has sailed in the waters between [the islands of] Yonaguni and Iriomote,” the Japanese Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Although it did not enter Japanese territorial waters, the Chinese flotilla did enter Japan's “contiguous waters”, an area that borders its territorial maritime zone.

The contiguous waters are a 22-kilometer (12 nautical mile) strip that extends beyond Japan's territorial waters.

This intrusion comes after Japan strongly condemned the incursion into its territorial waters earlier this month by a Chinese navy vessel that spent almost two hours off the southern islands.