Al Jazeera.
Chinese ships have entered waters near a group of disputed islands
for the first time in three weeks, prompting a strong protest from
Japan, which says China's air force has also sharply increased its
operations in the area.
Japan's Coast Guard said the four Chinese surveillance ships were
spotted within a 22km zone that Japan considers its territorial waters
near one of the disputed islands in the East China Sea early on Thursday
morning.
The ships refused to leave, saying the area was Chinese territory,
according to Atsushi Takahashi, a spokesman for the Coast Guard's
headquarters in Okinawa, which has jurisdiction over the islands.
He said it was the first time Chinese ships had entered the territorial waters since October 3.
Japan's foreign ministry lodged a strong protest with China's ambassador in Tokyo.
"Both sides have a lot at stake in this dispute. On one hand both
have to appease their public, but on the other side they have huge trade
ties and they cannot afford for the economy to be affected," Al
Jazeera's Divya Gopalan reported from Hong Kong.
