By Focus | 2025-03-28

During a period in March, for 92 hours and eight minutes, four Chinese Coast Guard vessels remained inside Japan's territorial waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands, marking the longest incursion since Tokyo nationalized the islets in 2012.

The incursion began early on March 21 when two armed Chinese vessels entered the area around 2am, reportedly pursuing Japanese fishing boats. Two more armed Chinese vessels followed the next day.

Late at night on March 24, the Japanese Coast Guard announced it had forced the Chinese Coast Guard vessels to leave around 10.04pm.

This maritime incident coincided with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's arrival in Tokyo to attend the 11th China-Japan-South Korea Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya raised concerns over the activity of Chinese vessels near the Senkakus, stating that such actions are "clearly escalating." He conveyed these concerns to Wang during their meeting in Tokyo on March 22.

A Japanese opposition lawmaker who questioned Iwaya at a parliamentary session described the presence of the Chinese ships as "extremely inappropriate," Kyodo News reported March 25.

In response to the incident, Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson Liu Dejun claimed that the Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islets are inherently Chinese territory.

"We urge the Japanese side to immediately cease all illegal activities in these waters," Liu said in a statement.

'Gray zone' tactics

The previous record for a Chinese incursion in the area, set in 2023, was 80 hours and 36 minutes.

The unprecedented standoff has reignited tensions between China and Japan, highlighting their territorial dispute.

The Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China, are a group of uninhabited islets sitting approximately 170km northeast of Taiwan in the East China Sea.

They are administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan. In contrast with the tiny, low-lying disputed coral atolls of the South China Sea, the Diaoyu/Senkakus rise out of the sea as a series of peaks on an underwater mountain range.

For Japan, the Senkaku Islands represent not only territorial sovereignty but also a strategic maritime zone crucial to national security and economic interests.

China, on the other hand, views its claims as part of a broader historical narrative tied to its rise as a regional power.

China employs a dual strategy of historical justification and "gray zone" tactics to assert its territorial claims over the East China Sea and the South China Sea, framing disputes as non-negotiable matters of sovereignty while avoiding direct military conflict.

"Leaders in Beijing have found this tactical package to work reasonably well against each of China's maritime neighbors" including Japan, said Isaac B. Kardon, a senior fellow for China studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, during a US congressional hearing in 2024.