A Japanese warship passed through the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China for the first time on Wednesday. A Japanese warship heading west from the East China Sea covered a distance of 180 km in 10 hours. BBC has given this information citing Japanese media.
Warships from Australia and New Zealand were also present along with this warship named JS Sajnami. The naval vessels of the three countries were on their way to a military exercise in the South China Sea. In fact, China claims both Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait. In such a situation, in order not to offend the dragon, until now Japan did not pass its ships between the two countries.
China's state media Global Times reported that while ships from other countries were passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese military was constantly monitoring them. “After repeated violations of Japan's airspace by the Chinese military, an atmosphere of crisis has arisen in the country,” Japan's chief cabinet secretary said Thursday.
China sent its spy ship into Japanese airspace
In fact, just last week a Chinese aircraft carrier passed between two Japanese islands near Taiwan. In August, a Chinese spy plane entered Japanese airspace. The Japanese government called this a violation of its country's sovereignty.
During the Quad countries meeting held in America on September 21, Japan, Australia, India and the United States agreed to increase cooperation for maritime security in the South China Sea.
There has been a dispute between China and Japan for a long time. Taro Aso visited India in 2006 as the Deputy Prime Minister of Japan. At that time he said in a statement that there has been no incident in history for more than 1500 years when our relations with China have been good.
Dispute between China and Japan over Senkaku Islands
The war between Japan and China began in the 1930s and ended in 1945 with nuclear attacks on Japanese cities. Even after the end of the war, a long-standing dispute between the two countries continues over the Senkaku Islands.
In fact, China claims these islands as its own. China says that Japan took these islands from China and should have returned them to China after the end of World War II.
Oil deposits near the Senkaku Islands
Japan alleges that China suddenly asserted its claim to the area after a 1969 UN report revealed oil deposits under the sea. In fact, the sea around the disputed island is rich in fish as well as oil reserves.
Even when an agreement was signed between the two countries to normalize relations in 1972, there was no agreement on the issue. In 2012, Japan took the issue further by nationalizing the Senkaku Islands.
There were violent demonstrations across China. After this, Chinese coast guard and fishing boats began to patrol these areas and Japanese territorial waters were repeatedly violated.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
