Japan unveils new submarine amid tensions with China near Senkaku islands

Japan on October 14 unveiled a new submarine with an aim to boost the country's maritime security in the East China Sea. According to news agency ANI, the 3,000-ton submarine has been built by Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited. The vessel is named Taigei and is scheduled to be commissioned by the Japanese Navy's submarine fleet in March 2022. 

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Amid tensions with China

This comes a day after the Japanese government said that two Chinese ships have entered the territorial waters off disputed Senkaku islands and have remained there for the past 57 hours, the longest ever intrusion by the Chinese side in the past eight years. The last time Chinese vessels stayed there for this long was in 2012 when the Japanese government had bought some portion of lands in the Senkakus from a private owner. 

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As per the report, Japan deployed patrol boats in the area and continuously asked the vessels to move from the Japanese territorial waters but in vain. According to Japan Coast Guards, there were three Chinese ships in total but only two of them entered Japanese territorial waters. The incident happened shortly before 11 am (local time) on October 11, following which the Coast Guards immediately asked the vessels to return back. China has reportedly made 18 incursions into the Japanese waters this year.

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Senkaku islands are a group of uninhabitable islands claimed by China, Japan, and Taiwan, however, it is administered by Tokyo since 1972. In recent years, China’s maritime activities have risen manifold especially in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, where Senkakus are. China's rise in incursions can be attributed to the US Naval activities in the Indo-Pacific, which Beijing sees as a threat to its influence in the region. 

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