China's patrol ships enter Japanese territory after Japan backs India on LAC issue

Days after Japan backed India and called for a peaceful resolution, opposing any unilateral attempts to change the status quo, Chinese patrol ships have entered Japanese territorial waters, Japan's Coast Guard has said. As per international reports, two Chinese patrol ships entered the waters off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Moreover, they approached a Japanese fishing boat inside the territorial waters, and the Coast Guard said it was the longest intrusion into the territorial waters by Chinese ships. 

This adds to Japan's ongoing tiff with China over uninhabited Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the Indo-Pacific sea, which has been administered by Japan since 1972. Since April, Japan has reportedly spotted at least 67 Chinese ships near Senkaku islands. Japan has already deployed its missiles towards its border facing China amid its several maritime incursions.

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This also comes after Japan on Friday sought to expand its defense intelligence sharing to India, Australia and U.K. Japan has reportedly decided to include these three nations by amending its state secrets law which already covers the US. 

On June 22, Ishigaki City Council in Japan's Okinawa approved legislation to change the administrative status of the Senkaku islands by changing its name from "Tonoshiro" to Tonoshiro Senkaku", to reportedly avoid confusion. The islands, 1,200 miles (1,931 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo, have been administered by Japan since 1972, but both nations have claimed the islands as their own for over a hundred years.

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Japan backs India

Amid the India-China tensions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh and the Chinese attempts to change the status quo, Japan has backed India. Satoshi Suzuki, Japanese Ambassador to New Delhi, on Friday said that he had a "good talk" with Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in this regard.

Suzuki appreciated his briefing on the situation along LAC, including the Government of India's policy to pursue a peaceful resolution. "Japan hopes for a peaceful resolution and opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo," he said.

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