NAHA: Two Chinese coast guard ships that had been repeatedly intruding into Japanese territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the city of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, since Thursday left the waters shortly after noon on Friday.

During this time, another Chinese coast guard ship also made repeated intrusions into the territorial waters.

As the three Haijing ships tried to approach a Japanese fishing boat, Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels warned them to leave the waters.

It was the 21st intrusion by Chinese official ships into the Japanese waters near the Senkakus this year.

According to the JCG’s 11th regional headquarters in Naha, the capital of the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, the two Chinese ships entered Japanese waters near Taisho Island in the Senkaku chain around 8:55 a.m. Thursday and around 4:55 p.m. on the same day. Another Chinese vessel entered Japanese waters near Minamikojima, also part of the island chain, around 10:05 p.m. on Thursday. After repeatedly entering and leaving the territorial waters, all of the three vessels exited the waters from southeast of Kuba Island, another island of the Senkakus, by 12:15 p.m. Friday.

The Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea are also claimed by China, where they are called Diaoyu.

JIJI Press