Japan protests as Chinese surveillance ships enter disputed waters

The Japanese government on Monday said three Chinese ships entered what Japan considers its territorial waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea, prompting an official protest.                     
China's Xinhua news agency said two civilian surveillance ships were undertaking a "rights defense" patrol near the islands, citing the State Oceanic Administration, which controls the ships.                  
The Japanese Coast Guard said one of the three vessels was a fishery patrol vessel.                        

It ordered the Chinese ships to move out of the area, but received no response, an official said.                       

"We don't know if China has other intentions (for deploying ships), but we think that they are operating with a single objective. Of course, if they enter our territorial waters, we will raise objections at the highest level," said Japan's chief cabinet secretary Osamu Fujimura in a daily briefing.                       

The move comes a day after China called off celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the normalization of ties between the Asia's largest economies and as officials from China's ruling Communist Party, due  to arrive in Tokyo on Monday, cancelled their trip.                     

"It is highly regrettable since it is the 40th anniversary. We believe that individual cases should not affect the overall relationship and it is important to continually improve our strategic relationship," Fujimura said.                       

China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said the country is set to use unmanned aircraft for marine surveillance, Chinese state media CCTV reported on Sunday.                       

CCTV added that China plans to use the pilotless aircraft for surveillance of waters around the disputed islands in the East and South China Sea.                         

The SOA said two pilotless aircraft, that are operated remotely and can fly for more than 16 hours continuously, had carried out successful operations off the coast of east China's Jiangsu province, CCTV reported.                       

CCTV added, quoting the SOA, that China plans to build 11 marine surveillance bases by 2015.  


REUTERS