The waters surrounding the islands contained six Chinese Coast Guard ships and about 230 Chinese fishing vessels as of about 8:05 a.m. Tokyo time, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an e-mailed statement Saturday. China regularly sends Coast Guard vessels into Japanese-administered waters around the disputed islands, also known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. The government made the demand to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, according to the statement. (US Navy/Handout via Reuters)Japan’s government made an official demand for vessels from China that are surrounding a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea to leave and not return, saying their presence could cause escalated tensions between the two nations. Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015.

Source: Bangkok Post August 06, 2016 12:33 UTC