A collision between a Chinese fishing boat and a Greece-flagged merchant ship near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea early Thursday led to a rescue operation by the Japan Coast Guard and a note of thanks from Beijing.
The coast guard rescued six Chinese crew members and was searching for eight missing, the agency said, after the fishing boat sank.
The boat collided with the 300-meter-long bulk carrier Anangel Courage about 65 km off Uotsuri Island, the largest in the Senkaku group of islets, just after 5 a.m.
The cargo ship issued a distress signal, and the coast guard dispatched a vessel and a plane to the area, the agency said. Weather conditions in the area were poor at the time.
Tokyo informed Beijing of the incident and the Chinese side “expressed appreciation” for the operation, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Hundreds of Chinese boats are currently fishing in waters close to the disputed islands, the ministry has said, with multiple Chinese patrol vessels maneuvering among them. At least some of the government ships appear to be armed.
The Chinese ambassador in Tokyo said Wednesday that the flotilla is a response to heavy potential fish catches in the area, according to an official from Japan’s ruling party.
Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, quoted Ambassador Cheng Yonghua as saying “fish were markedly concentrated” around the islets.
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