Japan says a Chinese carrier has entered territorial waters for the first time by Reuters
TOKYO/TAIPEI (Reuters) – A Chinese aircraft carrier entered waters close to Japan for the first time on Wednesday, Japan's defense ministry said, the latest in a series of military exercises that have stoked tensions between the neighbors.
The carrier, escorted by two destroyers, sailed between the southern Yonaguni Islands and Iriomote, entering an area up to 24 kilometers from its coast where Japan cannot apply other controls as defined by the United Nations.
Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hiroshi Moriya, said Tokyo had conveyed its “grave concerns” to Beijing, describing the incident as “completely unacceptable from the point of view of Japanese and regional security”.
“We will continue to carefully monitor the activities of Chinese naval vessels in the waters around our country and we will take all measures to gather information and monitor and observe,” Moriya told a news conference.
Japan last month lodged a protest with China after one of its naval inspection vessels entered Japanese waters, shortly after the plane was breached. In July, a Japanese naval destroyer made an unusual incursion into Chinese waters near Taiwan, according to Japanese media.
The rise of China's military presence near Japan and Taiwan in recent years has raised concerns in Tokyo. Japan has responded with a defense structure it says aims to prevent China from using the military to press its territorial claims in the region.
Earlier on Wednesday, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said it had spotted a Chinese aircraft carrier sailing from the east coast towards Yonaguni, a southern Japanese island, about 110 km (69 miles) east of Taiwan.
China, which views democratic Taiwan as its territory, has been conducting regular exercises around the island for five years to pressure it to accept Beijing's claim to sovereignty, despite Taipei's staunch opposition.
The ministry said the Chinese ships, led by Liaoning, which is China's oldest three-carrier, were seen in the early hours of Wednesday moving in the waters towards northeast Taiwan.
Taiwan tracked the ships and sent its forces to monitor it, it said. China's Ministry of Defense did not return calls seeking comment.
