Tokyo: Japan has told China to remove a buoy floating in waters within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a foreign ministry official said yesterday, referring to an area located near islands claimed by both countries.
“We have been lodging protests in both Tokyo and Beijing since Japan’s coastguard in July found a buoy” in Japan’s EEZ in the East China Sea, said the official.
The buoy was spotted in waters near the a group of islands that Japan calls the Senkakus and China the Diaoyus.
“We have demanded the immediate removal of the buoy as it is against international laws” to build a structure in Japan’s EEZ without its consent, the official said, on condition of anonymity.
China had placed a buoy in Japan’s EEZ in the same area of the East China Sea in 2018, according to the official.
Adding to decades of animosity between the two countries, Chinese-Japanese ties have soured since Tokyo’s release from Aug 24 of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Beijing responded with a blanket ban on all seafood imports from Japan.
Food exports from Japan to China plunged 41.2% in August to ¥14bil (RM446.5mil), according to finance ministry data released yesterday.
Tokyo in August demanded that China ensure the safety of Japanese citizens as it reported a brick being thrown at its embassy in Beijing. — AFP
