Chinese Navy Survey Ship Intrudes into Japanese Territorial Waters Off Kuchinoerabu Island in Kagoshima Prefecture

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:38 JST, September 1, 2024

A Shupang-class survey ship of the Chinese Navy intruded into Japanese territorial waters southwest of Kuchinoerabu Island in Kagoshima Prefecture at around 6 a.m. on Saturday and was there for nearly 2 hours, the Defense Ministry announced.

This was the 13th intrusion into Japanese territorial waters by Chinese Navy ships since September last year. Ships and aircraft of the Maritime Self-Defense Force were dispatched for warning and surveillance activities.

The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that any ships, including warships, have the right of innocent passage, under which ships are allowed to pass through other nations’ territorial waters unless they pose threats to the safety of coastal countries. However, conducting maritime surveys does not constitute innocent passage.

According to the ministry, the Chinese survey ship did not do any special actions and later left Japanese territorial waters from the southwest of Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture and headed south.

A Chinese military intelligence-gathering plane intruded into Japanese airspace off the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture on Aug. 26.

On Saturday, Hiroyuki Namazu, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, issued a strong concern and protested to Shi Yong, minister of the Chinese Embassy in Japan. Namazu told Shi that Japan holds serious concerns about the Chinese military’s actions.