China has repeatedly intruded into the territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture since a new China Coast Guard law was enacted on Feb. 1. This heightened activity presents Japan with a growing risk of "gray zone situations," which are not easily categorized as either peacetime scenarios or emergencies. The government should develop response plans that can address all possible contingencies involving the islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyu.
On Feb. 16, a China Coast Guard vessel, armed with what appeared to be an autocannon, violated Japan's territorial waters and approached a Japanese fishing boat. The Japanese government naturally protested the violation of international law to its Chinese counterpart.
