Japan sees Chinese sub spotted near Senkakus as n-powered attacker

January 15, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Monday a Chinese navy submarine that entered the contiguous zone surrounding Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the southern prefecture of Okinawa on Thursday appears to have been a nuclear-powered attack submarine.

The vessel is believed to be a Shang-class nuclear submarine, which can be equipped with cruise missiles and torpedoes, he told reporters.

The nuclear submarine can cruise in deeper waters for longer times than conventional submarines and is thus more difficult to detect, Onodera said, adding that the government will remain on high alert and thoroughly conduct surveillance activities.

The Japanese-administered East China Sea islands are claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu. Meanwhile, three Chinese coast guard ships entered Japanese territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa on Monday morning.

It was the second such intrusion by a Chinese government ship this year, after the one on Jan. 7.

According to the Japan Coast Guard's 11th regional headquarters in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, the Haijing 2303, the Haijing 2308 and the Haijing 2401 crossed into the Japanese waters at a point north-northwest of Uotsurijima, the largest of the Japanese-administrated islands in the East China Sea, between around 10:15 a.m. (1:15 a.m. GMT) and 10:25 a.m.

The three Chinese ships left the Japanese waters at a point west-southwest of the same island between around 11:45 a.m. and noon. The islands are claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.

At a press conference in Tokyo on Monday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the intrusion "extremely regrettable," noting that the Senkaku Islands are "Japan's inherent territory, legally and historically."

Suga indicated that the Japanese government intends to speed up work with China to launch a proposed bilateral air and maritime communication mechanism aimed at preventing accidental clashes between the two nations in or above the East China Sea.

Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, criticized China's recent moves around the islands. Last week, a Chinese navy submarine was spotted in the contiguous zone surrounding the Japanese waters around the Senkaku chain.

Japan should not overlook the incidents, Nikai told a press conference, indicating that it is not appropriate to do strange things at a time when the two nations are striving to resolve the issue peacefully

The two countries should steadily work to put the air and maritime communication mechanism into action, Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner, told a party meeting in the western Japan city of Osaka. Jiji Press