Chinese Ships Stay in Japanese Territorial Waters for Record Time; Break Previous Record of Roughly 80 Hours

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:47 JST, March 24, 2025

Chinese Coast Guard vessels entered Japanese territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture on Friday and stayed for longer than the previous record of 80 hours and 36 minutes, the Japan Coast Guard said.

According to the JCG’s 11th regional headquarters, which is based in Naha, two CCG vessels entered Japanese territorial waters in the early hours of Friday morning and two more entered on Saturday. Two of the vessels still remained on Monday. As of just after 10:30 a.m., the Chinese ships’ continuous stay in Japanese territorial waters surpassed the previous record after nationalization of the islands in 2012.

The two vessels were equipped with naval guns.