During 2024 China he could keep his Ships near the Senkaku Islands. This is the last alarm from Japan regarding the disputed islands that lie in the waters of the South China Sea and are technically controlled by Tokyo (they are part of Okinawa Prefecture) but claimed by the People's Republic of China and even the Republic of China, namely Taiwan. The Chinese leader Xi Jinping would have asked to strengthen it claim from Beijing on the islands and consequently the dragon would be willing to conduct some sort of constant patrol in the area. With tensions between Beijing and Tokyo likely to rise, there is a risk that such a move could lead to an incident.
China's claims on the Senkaku
The Japan Times wrote extensively about the alleged Chinese maneuver, citing anonymous sources close to the dossier. It appears that on November 29 last year, during a rare visit by Xi to the East China Sea Command Office Chinese Coast Guard In Shanghai, the president stressed the need for China to “continuously strengthen” its efforts to preserve the sovereignty of the islands – the same ones that China is demanding Diaoyu. Xi himself, who is also head of the Central Military Commission, is said to have made some symbolic statements: “We can only go forward, not backward. We will never allow even 1 millimeter of our territory to be taken over.”
The Coast Guard then developed a plan to maintain the presence of its ships near the islands every day 2024 and, if necessary, conduct inspections of Japanese fishing vessels in the region to strengthen Beijing's claim to sovereignty over the Senkaku/Daiooyu.
According to Japanese authorities, as of Dec. 14, the annual number of days Chinese ships were spotted by Japan near the Senkakus exceeded the previous record of 336 in 2022. Xi's instructions came in defiance of the Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida At a recent summit with the Chinese leader in San Francisco last November, he reiterated his “grave concerns” about the situation around the Senkaku Islands.
Escalation risk
After Xi's visit, the director general of China's coast guard said, Yu ZhongHe reportedly held a meeting at the command office and decided to constantly send his ships to the waters near the Senkakus to allow more Chinese Navy ships to pass between the waters Yonaguni Islands And Iriomote, Okinawa Prefecture. As a reminder, Yonaguni is the westernmost island in Japan. It has a population of around 1,600 people and is 111 kilometers from Taiwan, the island that Xi claimed in his year-end speech.
The Senkaku dispute has long caused tensions between the two Asian neighbors. Since Japan took the islands under state control in September 2012, Chinese coast guard ships have repeatedly entered Japanese waters near the disputed islands.
OkinawaIt is now more or less halfway between China and Japan. It's not too far from the Korean Peninsula and, more importantly, it's just over an hour's flight from Taiwan. This means that the island could serve as a military center for the United States United Statesboth in the event of a future conflict with Beijing and in defense of Taiwan. In fact, Washington has a solid presence in Okinawa because its dozens of bases here can facilitate all land, sea and air operations throughout the region. The United States can count on the Kadena and Futenma air bases, which are among the most important in Japan, as well as various Army, Navy and Marine installations.