BREAKING KYODO NEWS: 中国艦船、日本のEEZで護衛 海洋調査、「管轄権」行使 境界画定交渉に対抗
TITLE TRANSLATION: Chinese Coast Guard provide escort to Chinese Marine Survey Vessel asserting “jurisdiction” in a move countering boundary negations
By Masanori Fukuda, Kyodo News
中国海警局の複数の艦船が6月、沖縄県・与那国島南方の日本の排他的経済水域（EEZ）での航行を常態化させ、中国の海洋調査船と公船の護衛を始めたことが28日、分かった。日本政府もこの動きを確認した。この海域は台湾の東方で、中国は「管轄権」を主張してきたが、実際に権限を行使するのは極めて異例だ。同じ海域を日本とフィリピンが境界画定交渉の対象としたのに対抗する姿勢を鮮明にした。
海警局は、中国軍の最高指導機関、中央軍事委員会の指揮下にある。日本政府は、海上保安庁の巡視船や固定翼機を現場海域周辺に派遣し、海警局船の監視を強化している。中国が管轄権の行使に踏み切ったことで、両国の関係がさらに悪化する可能性がある。
海警局船などの動きは、地理空間情報分析を専門とする企業ingeniSPACE（台北）と同志社大の毛利亜樹准教授（現代中国研究）が、船の航行情報を発信する船舶自動識別装置（AIS）のデータを使って解析した。
It was revealed on the 28th that multiple China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels began making routine voyages in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) south of Yonaguni Island, Okinawa Prefecture, in June, and commenced escorting Chinese marine research vessels and government ships. The Japanese government has also confirmed this activity. Although China has long claimed "jurisdiction" over this area—located east of Taiwan—the actual exercise of such authority is highly unusual. This move clearly signals opposition to the fact that Japan and the Philippines have designated this same area as a subject for maritime boundary delimitation negotiations.
The China Coast Guard operates under the command of the Central Military Commission, China's supreme military leadership body. The Japanese government has dispatched Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels and fixed-wing aircraft to the area to step up surveillance of the CCG ships. China's decision to exercise jurisdiction could lead to a further deterioration of relations between the two nations.
The movements of the CCG vessels and other ships were analyzed using data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS)—which broadcasts vessel navigation information—by ingeniSPACE (Taipei), a company specializing in geospatial information analysis, and Associate Professor Aki Sakabe-Mori of Doshisha University (Contemporary Chinese Studies).