Four Chinese government ships were confirmed sailing in the contiguous zone off the Senkaku Islands, which are part of Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday night, the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha has announced.
The headquarters said Saturday that it was the first entry by Chinese ships to Japan's contiguous zone in 2021. Four vessels were seen entering the zone about 22 kilometers outside Japanese territorial waters, off Kuba Island of the Senkaku Islands, from around 10:26 p.m. to around 10:46 p.m. on New Year's Day.
As of 3 p.m. Saturday, the four ships were sailing in the contiguous zone off the Senkakus' Minamikojima island.
In the year 2020, Chinese government ships were spotted in Japan's contiguous zone on a total of 333 days, far exceeding the 2019 figure of 282 days. The 2020 number was equivalent to more than 90% of the days in the year, indicating that Chinese ships have been engaging in regular activities around the islands.
Chinese ships were spotted in territorial waters for a total of 29 days in 2020. In October 2020, they stayed in Japan's territorial waters for 57 hours and 39 minutes, the longest period since the nationalization of the islands in 2012.
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