(VOVworld) – The Japanese Foreign Ministry lodged a formal protest this week of 3 Chinese patrol vessels entering disputed waters near the islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
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| The group of disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China at the centre of a diplomatic row (Photo: Reuters) |
Junichi Ihara, of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Office, voiced Japan’s protest in a phone call to a senior Chinese diplomat at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo.
According to a Japanese government source, the incident occurred right after leaders of the two countries discussed ways to prevent a crisis related to the islands. This was China’s first incursion in the disputed area since a meeting between Chinese President Ji Xinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in October but the 28th incursion this year.