A Chinese military reconnaissance ship entered Japanese waters. According to the Japanese Ministry of Defense, this was the first such incident in the region since February, when a reconnaissance ship also swam into the island nation’s maritime borders. Japanese Defense Reports according to It was the 11th case in which a Chinese warship violated Japanese sovereignty. They did not say in what time frame. The Japanese authorities expressed their protest to the Chinese authorities through diplomatic channels.
The incident took place in the southern part of Japan, the ship was spotted off the Yakushima Islands, south of Kagoshima Prefecture. The Shupang-class reconnaissance and research ship entered Japanese maritime territory at 10:00 a.m. and left it 3 hours later near Kuchinoerabu Island, which also belongs to Kagoshima Prefecture. The Chinese ship could have been a vessel of the People’s Liberation Army Navy or the Chinese Coast Guardno confirmed information has been received in this regard.
Japan has traditionally had cold relations with China. The series of border incidents also increased the security risks in the Far East and in the wider Pacific region. Japan and China also have territorial claims against each otherboth sides claim control of some islands in the East China Sea.
The growing challenges forced Tokyo, which pursued a pacifist military policy after the Second World War, to change its previous policy. Within the framework of this, a force development program is being launched in Japan, which will increase their defense expenditure as a ratio of GDP to 2% by 2027. In Japan, data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). according to In 2022, it had an annual defense spending budget of nearly $46 billion, making it the country with the 10th largest budget in the world. In comparison with the states in the region, South Korea spent 46.4 billion dollars, while China spent 292 billion dollars on its armed forces last year.
In the past week, military incidents have increased in the region, the air defense had to be alerted in Taiwan in the morning, and in South Korea on Tuesday. This time there was no need to activate the defense force abilities.
Image credit: Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images
