Japan expresses concerns over China’s action in East Sea
Japan is deeply concerned about China’s repeated incursion into the South China Sea (called the East Sea in Vietnam) and Japanese-administered Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a telephone call on April 5.
Motegi also voiced his concern over China’s new law that empowers coast guard vessels to fire on foreign flagged ships within maritime jurisdiction determined by China.
Earlier, at the annual meeting under the Maritime and Aerial Communication Mechanism between the two defence authorities in late March, a representative from Japan Defence Ministry raised his grave concern over the Chinese law as well as China increasing activities that escalate tensions in the waters.
Many countries in the world have showed serious concerns over China’s recent deployment of over 200 ships around Sinh Ton island cluster in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago and requested the country to immediately bring these vessels out of the area and end all provocations.
The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said that the operation of the Chinese ships within the territorial waters of Sinh Ton Dong island in Truong Sa archipelago has violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)’s regulations on the operation of foreign vessels in the territorial waters of coastal nations, run counter to the spirit and content of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and complicated the situation which is unfavourable for the process of negotiations between ASEAN and China on a Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC).
