It’s not just the ongoing tension over contested territories in the South China Sea that is causing headaches for China’s political opponents. On Sunday, Japan said it issued multiple protests to China over actions in the East China Sea, including what Tokyo described as the installation of radar on a Chinese offshore gas platform. Japan also said that two Chinese vessels entered Japanese territorial waters near the disputed ‘Senkaku’ or ‘Diaoyu’ islands in the East China Sea on Sunday morning in an escalation of tensions between the two nations, and complained that as many as 300 Chinese fishing vessels were spotted in the vicinity of the disputed islands.
Japan is concerned that the radar, reportedly like those used on patrol vessels and not on drilling rigs, could be a sign of China’s intentions to use its gas platforms in the East China Sea as military objects, the Japanese media report as cited by Reuters. As a reminder, China and Japan sparred in an aggressive, escalating tit-for-tat over territorial claims involving the Senkaku Island chain in the East China Sea back in 2013.
The installation of radar on a gas platform, if confirmed, would recall China’s actions in the South China Sea, where it has added military facilities on artificial islands according to the WSJ. Additionally, in 2013, China established an air-defense zone in the East China Sea, raising tensions with the U. S. and Japan.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 7, 2016.
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