China expressed an official protest from the Foreign Ministry of Japan. This happened for the first time after the government of nationalists came to power in Tokyo.
Cheng Yunhua – the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo – called to the deputy minister of foreign affairs of the country about the fact that on January 7, four KNR ships invaded territorial waters around the islands with the name Senkaku, which in Chinese are called Dyaoyudao. These islands are located in the East China Sea. For many years, China and Japan have disputed them from each other.
The demand of Japan regarding the incident with the ships was this: so that this is not repeated in the future. Chinese diplomat said that the island data belong to the PRC. Nevertheless, he promised that he would notify Beijing about how the authorities of Japan reacted.
This was the first case of exacerbation of relations between China and Japan after the head of the Japanese government became the leader of the liberal-democratic party (LDP) Shinzo Abe. The reputation of the conservative and the nationalist had already gained a foothold behind him. One of his promises before the elections was a more stringent policy against China, with which Japan has long had conflicts due to disputed territories. These conflicts concern, at the same time, and the islands of Senkaku.