The Defense Ministry in Tokyo said that a Chinese Navy survey ship had entered Japanese territorial waters off Kagoshima Prefecture early on Saturday, only days after Japan fiercely objected to the first entry of a Chinese military aircraft into its airspace.
The Chinese Navy has publicly declared its entry into Japanese waters 13 times since last September, when it first did so. The ministry said that the entry of the Chinese Shupang-class vessel into the territorial waters southwest of Kuchinoerabu Island in Kagoshima was “cause for concern.”
The Chinese ship was under observation by aircraft and vessels of the Maritime Self-Defense Force when it entered the waters at around 6 a.m. and departed almost two hours later.
