China Coast Guard Ships Sail Around Japan’s Senkaku Islands for Record 295 Consecutive Days, Have Not Left in 2025

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, September 10, 2025

China Coast Guard ships have sailed in Japan’s contiguous zones around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture for 295 days in a row as of Tuesday, a record since the islands were purchased by the Japanese government in 2012.

Since then, CCG ships have often entered Japan’s contiguous zones, which are about 22-kilometer-wide zones outside of the country’s territorial waters. Thursday marked 13 years since the islands’ nationalization,

CCG ships coming too close to Japanese fishing ships has become a common occurrence around the islands. The ships also often intrude into Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands as well.

The Japan Coast Guard is increasing its efforts to improve security precautions in the area.

“I could see two to four [Chinese] coast guard ships sailing in the area,” said a 57-year-old fisherman in Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture. “They blocked the direction I wanted to sail in, and one of them came about five kilometers from my boat.”

The incidents began before dawn on Aug. 2 when the man started fishing off Uotsuri Island in his 6.6-ton fishing boat, according to the man and the JCG’s Naha-based 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, which is in charge of the area around the Senkaku Islands.

Two 3,000 ton-class CCG ships believed to be equipped with automatic canons entered Japan’s territorial waters and approached his boat.

The JCG deployed three patrol ships to protect the man’s boat.

The CCG ships continued sailing around the man’s boat until Aug. 4, while also sometimes entering Japan’s territorial waters.

“I’m too scared to go fishing without the JCG’s security escort,” he said.

The number of times CCG ships have intruded into Japan waters around the Senkaku Islands has significantly increased since 2012.

Until 2018, CCG ships entered the contiguous zones about 200 days a year. However, in the past five years, CCG ships have stayed near the islands, even when weather conditions were bad, partly due to the ships being larger than before.

Last year, CCG ships sailed in the contiguous zones for a record 355 days.

This year, CCG ships have never left the contiguous zones and have been around the islands for 252 consecutive days as of Tuesday.

Since Nov. 19, CCG ships have been around the islands for a record 295 consecutive days.

In March, CCG ships stayed in Japanese territorial waters for 92 consecutive hours, the longest amount of time since 2012, coinciding with fishing operations.

CCG ships have entered Japan’s territorial waters 20 times this year, and for 14 of those times, there were no Japanese fishing boats near the islands.

The JCG asked for ¥37.6 billion in its initial budget request for fiscal 2026, more than triple the amount in this fiscal year’s budget, to strengthen its capability to conduct patrols around the Senkaku Islands.

If approved, the JCG plans to build larger patrol vessels, which will be in the 1,500 to 6,000 ton-classes.

The JCG already operates unmanned aircraft mostly over the islands and intends to use the requested budget to deploy four more unmanned aircraft for that purpose.

“The situation is not normal this year as CCG ships will likely stay in the area around the Senkaku Islands for all 365 days,” said Seishiro Sakamoto, 59, head of the 11th regional headquarters. “To prevent unpredictable incidents, we will continue to respond accordingly.”