(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Tokyo, June 15 (QNA) - A Chinese naval ship briefly entered Japan''s territorial waters off an island in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima early Wednesday, the Japan''s Defense Ministry said.
Japanese P-3C patrol aircraft spotted the Dongdiao-class intelligence vessel sailing in territorial waters to the west of Kuchinoerabu Island at around 3:30 a.m., Japan''s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko told a press conference.
The ship travelled on a southeasterly bearing and left Japanese territorial waters south of the prefecture''s Yakushima Island around 5 a.m., Seko said.
The incident follows the intrusion last Thursday of a Chinese navy frigate into a contiguous zone just beyond Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa. China lays territorial claim to the islands, which it calls Diaoyu.
It was the first time a Chinese naval ship had been spotted in the zone, although Chinese coast guard vessels have been seen in contiguous zones and Japanese territorial waters on many occasions.
The Japan''s Foreign Ministry lodged an expression of concern with the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo over Chinese military activities in general in light of the intrusion earlier in the morning, Seko said."The government will continue to exert every effort in warning and surveillance activities in the waters and airspace surrounding the country," Seko said. (QNA)