A Chinese navy survey vessel on Sunday entered Japan's territorial waters near islands close to the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, the latest confirmed sighting of Chinese ships in the area since December, the Japanese Defense Ministry said.
A survey ship crossed into Japanese waters from southwest of Yakushima Island in the prefecture, the ministry said, marking the seventh entry by a Chinese survey vessel into waters off Kagoshima since November 2021.
The Japanese government expressed concern about the ship's actions to Beijing through diplomatic channels, the ministry said.
Chinese ships have repeatedly entered Japan's territorial waters or sailed through adjacent areas, most notably near the Senkaku Islands, a group of East China Sea islets controlled by Japan but claimed by China under the name Diaoyu, according to Japan's News Agency (Kyodo).
This group of islands is uninhabited and extends on the continental shelf of the East China Sea, about 170 kilometres north of Taiwan and about 400 kilometres west of Okinawa, Japan, and about 170 kilometres from the Japanese island of Ishigaki.
