Overview

• At approximately 00:19 on August 4, two China Coast Guard ships armed with machine guns entered Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, extending their uninterrupted presence to 259 days.
• The vessels navigated close to a Japanese fishing boat off Taisho Island before Japan Coast Guard patrols issued formal orders for their withdrawal.
• After exiting territorial waters on August 3 around 20:10 into the contiguous zone, the same two ships reentered the area in the early hours of August 4.
• This continuous deployment marks the longest post-2012 stretch of Chinese maritime activity around the islands since Tokyo nationalized the chain.
• Japan’s coast guard has monitored the daily patrols and lodged diplomatic protests to reinforce sovereignty claims and deter further incursions.