China has told Japan it intends to remove a buoy it installed inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, diplomatic sources said Saturday.
While it is hoped the move will help stabilize strained relations between the two countries, China has not removed the buoy from the area. Japan is urging China to move the object immediately, the sources said.
The Japanese government has repeatedly called for the removal since the buoy’s presence was confirmed in July last year near the uninhabited, Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed islets.
China’s motive for uninstalling the object is apparently to address the mounting number of diplomatic issues it has with Japan so that it can focus on its relationship with the United States, which will likely become turbulent following the inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president in January.
According to the sources, China told Japan through diplomatic channels in the summer that it would remove the buoy, with Japan welcoming the move and closely monitoring the situation to make sure Beijing follows through.
The topic was also discussed by officials from both countries during high-level consultations on maritime affairs in Tokyo in October.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has said the buoy was installed to monitor ocean currents and weather. Some observers said the data including water temperature has been collected and used by the Chinese military.
It appears China has determined that moving the buoy to the Chinese side of the EEZ’s median line would not make much difference to the data obtained, the sources said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in Peru last week, where he expressed serious concerns about the situation in the East China Sea and the increased activity by the Chinese military.
