From Tokyo, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi held a telephone conversation with Joseph M. Young, chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Japan, on Feb. 9, expressing “great concern and unacceptability” regarding the implementation of the Chinese Maritime Police Act.
Nobuo Kishi wrote via Twitter, “I received a courtesy call from U.S. Chargé d’affaires a.i. in Japan. We confirmed that we will continue strong Japan-US cooperation to maintain and strengthen the ‘free and open Indo-Pacific region’. We conveyed our high level of concern about the Chinese Maritime Police Act, which we cannot accept.” Joseph Young tweeted that “I had a valuable exchange of views with Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi on strengthening Japan-U.S. Security cooperation.”
Also according to Kyodo News, the Chinese Coast Guard Bureau vessels sailed into the disputed waters near the Diaoyu Islands (known as the Senkaku Islands in Japanese) one after another on the 6th and 7th after the Coast Guard Law regarding the use of weapons by the Chinese Coast Guard Bureau came into effect on the 1st. In response, Japan’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Kazuga Akabane said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that “the territorial waters will be guarded without fail”.
Akabane Ichika stressed that “such activities by the Chinese side are continuing, and the situation is now considered extremely serious.” He said, “Under the policy of firmly guarding our territory and territorial waters to the end, we will continue to take a calm and resolute response in cooperation with relevant agencies to avoid escalation.” Also according to the South China Morning Post, Japan will for the first Time station a Coast Guard patrol vessel in the Ogasawara Islands, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, a move designed to deter illegal fishing in its waters and enable it to respond quickly to surveillance and research by foreign vessels.
Japan’s Coast Guard announced that it will deploy the 180-ton “Mikazuki” patrol vessel to the Ogasawara Islands in the coming months, and will also increase the number of personnel stationed there. Previously, Japan had to dispatch ships from its Yokohama headquarters south of Tokyo to respond to incidents near the islands.
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