Chinese research ship spotted in Japanese EEZ

Naha, Okinawa Pref. (Jiji Press) — A Chinese marine research ship was extending something like a pipe into the sea in the Japanese exclusive economic zone off the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture Sunday, the Japan Coast Guard said.

The Chinese ship was spotted in the waters about 230 kilometers north-northeast of Taishojima, part of the Senkaku chain in the East China Sea, at around 6:30 a.m., according to the JCG’s 11th regional headquarters in Naha, the capital of Okinawa.

The research ship went out of the Japan-China median line at about 1:20 p.m. after it was asked by a JCG patrol ship by radio to stop operating.