Japan Coast Guard ships. (Photo : Japan Coast Guard)
The Japan Coast Guard is getting tougher against the rising number of Chinese boats fishing illegally near the disputed Senkaku Islands, some of which are invading Japanese territory in packs of boats lashed together.
Tokyo will deploy nine more large patrol vessels from November to 2018 and will increase to 200 from 50 by March 2019 the number of coastguard personnel on Senkaku maritime patrols.
The coast guard said the new ships were built to withstand impact from collisions with Chinese fishing boats, which have been known to ram pursuing coast guard vessels. These new coast guard vessels also have improved monitoring technologies.
Three of these boats will eventually be deployed from the Miyako Islands in Okinawa starting November. These vessels have rear windows on their bridge for better navigation and are capable of an omnidirectional 360 degree probe of its surroundings. Japan will also build a 6,000 metric ton patrol boat that can fly a helicopter.
Only last April, the coast guard deployed 10 newly built 1,500 metric ton patrol ships and two helicopter-equipped patrol ships to patrol the Senkakus.
The 10 new ships are equipped with 20 mm cannons and water cannons. They span 96 meters in length and capable of high-speed cruising.
Besides these 12 ships, the 11th Regional Coast Guard has six 1,000 metric ton large patrol ships. It also operates one helicopter-equipped patrol ships for operations apart from those related to the Senkakus.
Piers and lodging facilities have been prepared at Ishigaki port in Okinawa that will serve as a base for these patrol ships. The fixed number of personnel for the 11th Regional Coast Guard has been increased to 1,722, of whom 606 are assigned exclusively to the Senkaku patrols.
The Japan Coast Guard explained the number of Chinese boats violating maritime law has increased. In 2015, it counted 99 boats in Japan-claimed waters. In 2016, that number rose to 135 boats that were occupying 70 percent of total fishing areas.
Chinese boats fishing illegally in Japanese waters in 2014 came to 208 vessels in areas claimed by Japan.
