Japanese coast guard officials say they expelled two Chinese coast guard ships from waters near the Senkaku Islands, a group also claimed by China as the Diaoyu. Japan says the Chinese vessels approached a Japanese fishing vessel operating in the area. Japanese statements describe the incident as a coast-guard-to-coast-guard confrontation carried out in the context of a long-running territorial dispute over the islands, which sit between Taiwan and Japan’s Okinawa in the East China Sea.
Multiple outlets also report that China presents a different account of the same encounter. Chinese officials say their coast guard warned and expelled what they described as an intruding Japanese fishing boat. Hong Kong Free Press and other reports characterize the encounter as a face-off in which both sides claim they drove away the other’s ships.
The incident reflects broader strains between Tokyo and Beijing, with the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands remaining a recurring flashpoint. The reports consistently place the confrontation in the maritime area around the disputed island chain and attribute the immediate trigger to the approach of fishing or coast guard-linked vessels.
