Chinese research vessel conducts multiple surveys near Senkaku Islands, raising Japanese security concerns

Analysis of automatic identification system data shows that the Chinese research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 carried out five separate surveys in Japan's exclusive economic zone near the Senkaku Islands between March and July. The ship operated in a roughly 66-kilometer-by-11-kilometer rectangle about 50 kilometers west of the islands, repeatedly traveling north and south at about five kilometers per hour and deploying a pipe-like apparatus into the sea during a July mission.

Japan's Coast Guard documented the activity, and the Foreign Ministry warned that scientific work in another country's EEZ without prior permission violates the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Defense Ministry sources indicated that seafloor and water-column data could be valuable for submarine route planning and sonar performance, potentially supporting military objectives. Japanese officials have noted a sharp increase in Chinese marine operations around the Nansei Islands, with thirteen incidents reported recently versus six the year before, and have lodged diplomatic protests while boosting surveillance. Masayuki Masuda of the National Institute for Defense Studies added that the repeated surveys might also carry political motives.