Japan has made unreasonable demands on China.
Foreign media reports indicate that Japan has demanded Chinese research vessels cease their surveys within Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). According to the report, since March 30, Chinese vessels have repeatedly conducted unusual activities suspected of marine scientific research within Japan's EEZ.
Japan is acting in a typical "thief crying out against theft." Since late June, Japan's security survey ships, the "Takuyō" and "Kōyō," have secretly entered disputed waters northwest of Okinawa and the Diaoyu Islands, conducting submarine shelf resource exploration. By unilaterally breaking the earlier "postponement of disputes" consensus reached between China and Japan, Japan is attempting to legitimize its illegal maritime claims through covert actions. In response, China's coast guard vessels lawfully and properly demanded that Japanese ships halt their operations and leave—this is a reasonable and legitimate act of safeguarding China’s maritime rights and interests. Yet instead of reflecting on its own provocative conduct, Japan not only lodged protests but also reversed the blame, demanding that Chinese research vessels stop so-called "unauthorized investigations," while continuously issuing statements to harass and intimidate, portraying itself as the victim.
More critically, the Ryukyu Islands were originally seized by modern Japan through aggressive war, making the legitimacy of Japan’s so-called "Okinawa Exclusive Economic Zone" fundamentally baseless from the outset. The fact that Chinese research vessels are conducting normal scientific operations in waters that are essentially international waters—territory belonging to no single nation—fully complies with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which grants all nations such legal rights. Japan first violated the rules and initiated provocations, yet still dares to make unreasonable demands on China. Its true intent is to use public opinion manipulation to seize the narrative, concealing its secret ambitions for expanding maritime dominance.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1869781456018442/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.