The Chinese government reportedly informed Japan that large numbers of Chinese fishing vessels could operate around the Senkaku Islands and claimed that Japan had no right to demand that their navigation be stopped.
This August 3, 2020 record examines the danger that China might coordinate fishing fleets and government vessels to test Japan’s maritime enforcement capabilities and gradually undermine Japan’s effective control of the Senkaku Islands.

August 3, 2020
Concern was growing within the Japanese government that China might escalate its provocations in an attempt to undermine Japan’s effective control of the Senkaku Islands.
The following is taken from the front page of today’s Sankei Shimbun.
China Signals Fishing Fleet Deployment around the Senkaku Islands
“Japan Cannot Stop an Incursion into Its Territorial Waters”
It emerged on August 2 that the Chinese government had communicated to the Japanese government a claim that appeared to foreshadow an incursion by large numbers of fishing vessels into the territorial waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands in Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture.
China also reportedly told Japan that it had “no right to demand” that the vessels be prevented from navigating in the area.
China’s fishing moratorium around the Senkaku Islands was due to end on August 16, raising the possibility that large numbers of fishing vessels and government vessels would enter Japan’s territorial waters.
Concern was growing within the Japanese government that China might escalate its provocations in an attempt to undermine Japan’s effective control of the islands.
By Naohisa Hanzawa.
A Possible Incursion after the Fishing Moratorium Ends on August 16
The Chinese claim was conveyed during the period when two Chinese government vessels that had entered the territorial waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands between July 2 and 5 approached a Japanese fishing vessel.
The Chinese vessels remained in Japan’s territorial waters for more than thirty-nine hours, the longest period since the Japanese government nationalised the Senkaku Islands in 2012.
Chinese government authorities criticised Japan by saying:
“The Japan Coast Guard was unable to stop even a single Japanese fishing vessel from navigating around the Senkaku Islands.”
They continued:
“Japan has no right to demand that the navigation of hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels around the Senkaku Islands be stopped.”
A senior Japanese government official regarded this claim as an attempt to lay the groundwork for justifying provocations after the fishing moratorium ended.
Following the end of the fishing moratorium in 2016, a cumulative total of seventy-two Chinese fishing vessels entered Japan’s territorial waters over four days.
Fifteen Chinese government vessels also entered the territorial waters or sailed through the contiguous zone immediately outside them.
Since 2018, however, the Chinese authorities were believed to have instructed fishing vessels not to approach the waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands.
In 2020, after the postponement in March of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned April visit to Japan, Chinese government vessels continued to be sighted around the Senkaku Islands.
They were again seen sailing through the contiguous zone on August 2.
Their presence had been confirmed for 111 consecutive days, extending the longest continuous period recorded since the islands were nationalised.
The Chinese government stated that, when its government vessels entered Japan’s territorial waters in May and pursued a Japanese fishing vessel, they had “tracked and monitored in accordance with the law” a Japanese vessel that was allegedly “operating illegally in China’s territorial waters.”
By emphasising that its actions constituted law enforcement, China sought to strengthen its territorial claim.
The apparent warning of a large-scale incursion by fishing vessels had the same purpose.
The Japanese government maintains that no territorial sovereignty dispute exists over the Senkaku Islands.
China may encourage fishing vessels to enter Japan’s territorial waters and accompany them with government vessels in an attempt to create the impression that a territorial dispute does exist and that Japan and China hold equal positions regarding sovereignty over the islands.
In preparation for the end of the fishing moratorium, the Okinawa Prefectural Police strengthened its vigilance in coordination with the Japan Coast Guard and the National Border Remote Islands Security Unit, which had been newly established in April.