China and Japan have issued sharply different accounts of a confrontation between their coast guards near the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, with China saying a Japanese fishing vessel “illegally entered the territorial waters of China’s Diaoyu Dao” and claiming it took “necessary law enforcement measures,” while Japan insists its patrol ship intervened to protect the vessel and ordered the Chinese ships to leave.
The tense encounter comes as relations deteriorate after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested Tokyo could take military action if Beijing attacks Taiwan, fueling increasingly hostile rhetoric on both sides.
The uninhabited islands, located near Taiwan, have long been a flashpoint, with China sending record numbers of vessels into the area as both countries assert territorial rights.