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Three Chinese Vessels Enter Disputed Japanese Waters in East China Sea

© AP Photo / XinhuaOne of the small islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese is seen from a Chinese marine surveillance plane
One of the small islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese is seen from a Chinese marine surveillance plane - Sputnik International
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Three Chinese coast guard vessels entered the waters of the Senkaku Islands, also known as the Diaoyu Islands and subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and China, local media reported Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Japan Times cited the headquarters of the regional coast guard in Okinawa as saying that three of China's coast guard ships had crossed into territorial waters claimed by Japan in the East China Sea off the northern coast of Taiwan early on Sunday.

The newspaper said this was the 13th such encounter in a series of incidents in 2015, but failed to specify whether Japanese aircraft had been scrambled in response, or whether the vessels had been escorted out of the area or had left themselves.

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Last week, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to Japan's claim to the islets as part of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation in the course of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Washington.

Japan has asserted its rights to the uninhabited Senkaku Islands since 1895, while China maintains that it has had sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands since as early as the 16th century. Nearby Taiwan also lays claim to the islands, where oil deposits were discovered in the 1970s.

In a discussion with the think tank CFR (the Council on Foreign Relations), US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work stated the United States would support Japan were the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea subject to seizure. - Sputnik International
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US to Support Japan in Case of Any Attempts to Seize Senkaku Islands
Tensions between China and Japan escalated in August 2012, when Japan formally announced its decision to buy three of the five disputed islands from a family of landowners for $26.1 million.

In 2013, China unilaterally imposed an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, including over the disputed islands. Beijing demands that aircraft flying over the area must report their route and radio frequencies, a move condemned by the United States.

Tokyo has been Washington's closest ally in the Pacific since the end of World War II. In recent years, the US has shifted the focus of its strategic planning toward Asia under a new state policy of military deterrence aimed at China.

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