Japan on Saturday expressed “strong concern and protest” after a Chinese warship entered its territorial waters, days after Tokyo accused Beijing of sending a military plane into Japanese airspace.
A Chinese warship was spotted entering Japanese territorial waters near the southern island of Kuchinoerabu around 6 a.m. Saturday (2100 GMT Friday) and exiting southwest of Yakushima island nearly two hours later, the defense ministry said.
Following the incident, the Foreign Ministry “expressed Japan’s deep concern and protest” to the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo.
The ministry took “into account past activities by Chinese and other warships in the waters around Japan, as well as the recent intrusion into Japanese territorial airspace by a Chinese military aircraft,” it said Saturday night.
Japan scrambled fighter jets Monday after a two-minute incursion by a Chinese Y-9 surveillance plane off the Danjo Islands in the East China Sea, which Tokyo called a “serious violation” of its sovereignty.
China’s growing economic and military influence in the Asia-Pacific region and its assertiveness in territorial disputes – most recently with the Philippines – have rattled the United States and its allies.
Last week, Japan’s Defense Ministry requested 8.5 trillion yen ($59 billion) for the next fiscal year, its largest initial budget request ever, as part of the country’s five-year, 43 trillion yen defense buildup plan through March 2028.
The request includes funding for so-called “stand-off” capabilities to strike distant targets with missiles and unmanned vehicles.
The amount is higher than the ministry’s initial request of 7.7 trillion yen last year, but lower than the actual budget of 9.4 trillion yen approved for the current fiscal year.
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