Defense & Security

Beijing Removes Chinese Buoy from Japan’s EEZ in Okinawa Pref.; No More Chinese Buoys Unapproved by Tokyo Placed in Japan EEZ

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, left, and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi shake hands at a meeting in Beijing in December 2024, when Iwaya protested China’s placement of a buoy in Japan’s EEZ.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:49 JST, May 29, 2025

China has removed its large buoy that had been placed without Japan’s approval inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) south of Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture, according to sources.

The Japanese government, which has been demanding that China remove the buoy since it was put in place in December, is looking into the reason why China removed the buoy.

According to Japanese government sources, the Japan Coast Guard observed the buoy removal.

The buoy had “China Meteorological Administration” and other words were written on it, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry has insisted it was legal and for meteorological observation purposes.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that marine scientific research can only be conducted in the EEZ of another country if approval is obtained from that state.

China had previously placed a buoy in Japan’s EEZ off the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture in July 2023 but moved it to the Chinese side in February this year.

Following the latest removal, there are no more Chinese buoys in Japan’s EEZ without the approval of the Japanese government.