Japan’s call on East China Sea wins backing from experts

The islands are administered by Japan but also claimed by China, with the waters rich in oil and gas reserves.

China last week passed a new law authorising coastguard vessels to fire upon other countries’ ships when in territorial waters Beijing claims. The Phillippines’ foreign minister labelled the law a “verbal threat of war” on Friday.

In addition, China has escalated its toying of Taiwan’s defences, flying dozens of warplanes into its air defence zone on the weekend, saying that Taiwanese independence “means war”.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings said Mr Yamagami’s comments were a shift from Japan’s “pretty cautious” approach in the past to tensions in the East China Sea.

Mr Jennings said the Senkakus were a key strategic interest for Japan while India had its land border dispute with China. Australia needed to heed those concerns if it wanted other countries to be interested in the South China Sea and China’s economic bullying of Australia.

Similarly, China’s frequent incursions into Taiwan’s territory were an attempt to “normalise” its military activities.

“Everyone is worried about China but for different reasons. But if we are going to be able to work together, we have to back each other on the problems worrying different countries,” he said.

Although the head of Australian National University’s National Security College, Rory Medcalf, said he was not advocating for Australia to sail full steam ahead into the East China Sea, “it was time in our strategic dialogue with Japan to talk about more sensitive issues in the event of a Taiwan crisis”.

Asked to respond to Mr Yamagami’s comments, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds referred questions to the Defence Department.

“Australian vessels and aircraft will continue to exercise rights, under international law, to freedom of navigation and overflight and support others doing the same,” the department said in a statement.

“We place a high priority on defence cooperation in the region with close partners, as reaffirmed in the 2020 Defence Strategic Update.

“On Taiwan and the East China Sea, we are aware of the situation and continue to monitor developments.”

Australia has been steadily increasing joint military activities with Japan and the US as part of what is described as a robust program of regional engagement.

Earlier this week, Senator Reynolds urged China and Taiwan to “settle their disputes peacefully”.

In their first conversation following his swearing-in, US President Joe Biden reassured Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that America’s security pact to defend Japan against attack included the Senkaku Islands.

But China’s Foreign Ministry said the Senkakus – which China calls the Diaoyu Islands – were its “inherent territory”.

“The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, born out of the Cold War, shall not be used to undermine the interests of any third party, let alone regional peace and stability,” a ministry spokesman said on Thursday.