The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) has announced that four China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels entered Japanese territorial waters off the coast of disputed islands in the East China Sea, and that a helicopter that had taken off from one of those four Chinese vessels violated Japanese airspace.
This was the first time that a CCG helicopter has violated Japanese airspace, according to the JCG.
According to the JCG’s 11th regional headquarters in Naha City of Okinawa Prefecture, the four Chinese vessels entered the territorial waters of Minamikojima, Uotsurijima, and Kubajima in the Senkaku Islands of Okinawa separately between 12:18 p.m. and 1:03 p.m. on May 3. The islands are controlled by Japan but claimed by China, which calls them the Diaoyu Islands.
It was confirmed that a helicopter flew on and off the flight deck of one of the four vessels, CCG 2303 Meishan, between 12:21 p.m. and 12:36 p.m. on the same day, violating Japanese airspace, a spokesperson at the JCG’s 11th regional headquarters told The Diplomat. The CCG 2303 Meishan entered the territorial waters south-southeast of Minamikojima between 12:18 p.m. and 12:58 p.m.
Territorial waters refers to the area within 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) of island coasts.
Japan’s Defense Ministry announced that the Southwestern Air Defense Force of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force scrambled two F-15 fighter jets in response to the CCG helicopter’s violation of Japanese airspace.
Photos provided to the media by the JCG’s 11th regional headquarters show the helicopter was a Z-9 vessel-borne anti-submarine helicopter with its registration number 15906.
This handout photo, provided by the Japan Coast Guard, shows a China Coast Guard helicopter approaching a CCG vessel within the territorial waters of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands on May 3, 2025.
In September 2024, the CCG 2303 Meishan and helicopter 15906 conducted joint training with the Russian Coast Guard vessels in Peter the Great Gulf in the Primorsky Region off the coast of Russia’s Far East, according to the JCC.
The latest incident has already developed into a major battle of words between Tokyo and Beijing, escalating tensions over the thorny issue of the territorial disputes for decades.
On the afternoon of May 3, Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Funakoshi Takehiro lodged a strong protest with China’s ambassador to Japan, Wu Jianghao, over the intrusion of four CCG vessels into Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands and the violation of Japan’s territorial airspace by a helicopter launched from one of those vessels. Funakoshi also strongly urged China to ensure that similar acts do not recur.
Meanwhile, on the same day, Wu also made a stern protest to Funakoshi, claiming that a Japanese civilian aircraft illegally entered China’s airspace over Diaoyu Islands. He said China urges Japan to recognize the seriousness of the situation and take measures to prevent similar incidents from recurring.
CCG spokesperson Liu Dejun also released a statement on the same day, claiming that a Japanese civilian aircraft illegally entered China’s airspace over Diaoyu Islands, and that in response the CCG promptly implemented necessary control measures and dispatched a shipborne helicopter to issue a warning and drive it away.
Further complicating the situation, on the following day, May 4, Liu Jinsong, director-general of the Asian Affairs Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, lodged a similar protest to Yokochi Akira, chief minister of the Embassy of Japan in China, claiming that “Japanese right-wing elements intruded into China’s territorial airspace over the Diaoyu Islands by piloting a civilian aircraft.”
The civilian aircraft, a small privately owned Beechcraft that took off from Ishigaki Island of Okinawa Prefecture, was unrelated to the Japanese government and is not believed to have had any political motives in Japan.
From the Japanese government’s point of view, the latest incident is the fourth time that a Chinese aircraft (whether military or not) has been confirmed to have violated Japanese airspace.
The first incursion was made in December 2012 by a small Y-12 propeller plane, operated by China’s State Oceanic Administration. The second was in May 2017, when a small unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, was spotted flying on a China Coast Guard vessel that had intruded into Japanese territorial waters around the islands, forcing the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) to scramble fighter jets.
The third occurred on August 26, 2024, when a Chinese military Y-9 intelligence-gathering aircraft was spotted flying above Japanese territorial waters off the coast of the Danjo Islands in Goto City in the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki Prefecture, and JASDF fighter jets were again scrambled to respond. This was the first violation of Japanese airspace by a Chinese military aircraft.
The Japanese government says it is clear both historically and under international law that the Senkaku Islands are an inherent part of the territory of Japan, and currently they are under the valid control of Japan. Therefore Tokyo rejects the existence of any dispute and maintains that there is no issue of territorial sovereignty that needs to be resolved regarding the Senkaku Islands.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government says that the Diaoyu Islands and affiliated islets are China’s inherent territory, and that the CCG will continue to conduct rights protection and law enforcement operations in the waters and airspace of the islands to firmly safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.