Japan denounces the presence of Chinese and Russian ships in the vicinity of the Senkaku Islands

July 4. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Japanese authorities have denounced this Monday the presence of Chinese and Russian ships in waters near the disputed islands of Senkaku, known in China as Diaoyu and which are under the control of Tokyo.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has indicated in a statement that the Chinese Navy ship ‘Jiangwei II’ broke into waters near the island of Uotsuri on Monday, although it later headed southwest.

The text indicates that a Russian frigate also entered this same area. The ships, along with two other Russian vessels, passed near Okinawa prefecture on July 1, between the islands of Yonaguni and Iriomote.

The Japanese military has indicated that the Chinese ship could have entered the area to supervise the itinerary of the Russian frigate, which caused the first simultaneous entry of these ships in the area since 2016.

The Government of Japan has transferred a note of complaint to China for the entry of these ships and has demanded that measures be taken to prevent such actions. The Senkaku Islands were transferred in 1972 by the United States to Japan and since then the islands have been in dispute with China.

Japan claims that the five islands have been part of its territory since 1895 and did not belong to anyone before, but China maintains that on Japanese maps of 1783 and 1785 the archipelago is identified as Chinese territory and that it had belonged to the Chinese Empire.

However, Tokyo attributes the Chinese claims to the discovery in the 1970s of significant hydrocarbon reserves in the area. The islands are also claimed by Taiwan.