Japan summons China envoy over ships near disputed isles

TOKYO: Tokyo summoned Beijing’s envoy on Thursday after Chinese government ships entered Japanese territorial waters near islands at the center of a bitter row between the Asian giants.
The Chinese vessels entered the area early Wednesday and left around noon on Thursday, the Japanese coastguard said, the longest incursion since the dispute erupted again last year.
Tokyo issued a protest to acting ambassador Han Zhiqiang over the latest incident, a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
“The Chinese side argued its... position and said it could not accept Japan’s protest,” he said.
The incursion was the latest in a series by Chinese government ships in recent months around the Senkaku islands, a potential flashpoint that some observers say could even lead to armed conflict.
Beijing also claims the chain, which it calls the Diaoyus. The East China Sea archipelago is located in rich fishing grounds and is believed to harbor vast natural resources below its seabed.
A group of four Chinese ships entered Japanese waters near the islands around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday (2230 GMT Tuesday), according to the Japanese coastguard.
One of the four vessels left the area Wednesday evening, but it was soon replaced by another government ship. The group left the area around noon on Thursday, the coastguard said.
The longest previous stay by Chinese vessels was about 14 hours in February, it added.
“The latest incident marks the longest stay” since last year, a coastguard official told AFP.
The long-running dispute flared again after Japan nationalized some of the disputed chain last September, setting off a diplomatic row and sparking riots across China.
A Chinese boycott of Japanese brands quickly followed, weighing on exports to the key market.

Mutual dislike
The territorial tensions and maritime skirmishes have all but frozen relations. A survey Thursday found that Chinese and Japanese people hold the least favorable views of each others’ countries for almost a decade.
A total of 92.8 percent of Japanese have a bad or relatively bad impression of China, while 90.1 percent of Chinese hold similar feelings toward Japan, according to the poll by the state-run China Daily and Japanese think tank Genron NPO.
On Tuesday Beijing made strong criticism after Japan unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a $1.2 billion helicopter carrier aimed at playing a major role in disaster and rescue missions, as well as defending sea lanes and Japanese territory.
“We express our concern at Japan’s constant expansion of its military equipment. This trend is worthy of high vigilance by Japan’s Asian neighbors and the international community,” China’s defense ministry said.
“Japan should learn from history, adhere to its policy of self-defense and abide by its promise of taking the road of peaceful development.”
The comments came as Tokyo considers an overhaul of the pacifist constitution imposed on Japan by the United States after WWII. The prospect stirs strong emotions among Japan’s neighbors.
Beijing and Seoul have long maintained that Tokyo has never come to terms with its militaristic past, including the brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula.
Japan’s well-funded and well-equipped military is referred to as the Self-Defense Forces, and is barred from taking aggressive action.
Any move to strengthen the military would require constitutional change, a move that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative administration has been eyeing since it swept December elections.