Chinese Coast Guard conducted unauthorized patrols off Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands

Several Chinese Coast Guard vessels conducted unauthorized patrols in the vicinity of the Senkaku archipelago, which is administered and claimed by Japan. The island group, located in the South China Sea and about 200 miles off the coast of China, is a disputed terrain between the two nations.

According to the Italian news agency Nova, which quoted official Chinese sources, the patrol took place "in territorial waters" with the aim of "safeguarding national rights." However, those waters belong to Japan, according to Tokyo.

China claims them as its own under the name Diaoyu Islands, but they are much closer to a Japanese sovereign territory, Ishigaki, than to mainland China.

The dispute dates back to the China-Japan war of 1895 after which Japanese imperial forces conquered the islands. Today, the archipelago is totally uninhabited.

The Japanese state decided to nationalize all the land on the islands as a measure to protect them from any Chinese asymmetric warfare action. It did so in 2012 when it bought all the land from a private owner. That gesture prompted an episode of tensions with Beijing.

A series of violent demonstrations took place in China, which was met with a harsh response from President Xi Jinping, who called the acquisition a "farce." Since then, China's Foreign Ministry has made repeated calls for dialogue, urging Japan to resolve disputes through "friendly consultations" regardless of on-the-ground confrontations involving other countries, without ever directly naming the United States.

This episode is one more in the history of confrontations that China has kept alive in the Pacific and South China Sea. The U.S. has already identified the Pacific Ocean as its priority for geopolitical policy vis-à-vis China.