China has reportedly agreed to remove a buoy it placed earlier this year in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), addressing a contentious issue in the already strained relations between the two neighbors.
The buoy, which China claimed was installed for monitoring weather and ocean currents, is in the Shikoku Basin, north of Okinotorishima reef in the Philippine Sea. It lies within Japan's EEZ, a 200-nautical-mile zone granting Japan exclusive rights to natural resources.
Japan had strongly protested the buoy's placement, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa saying in July it was "regrettable" that China failed to notify Tokyo beforehand. Diplomatic sources told Kyodo News that Japan welcomed China's decision to remove the buoy but would closely monitor its compliance.
While China reportedly determined that moving the buoy would not significantly affect its data collection, the action takes place in a broader context of regional maritime disputes. The Shikoku Basin is near the hotly contested Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and the Tiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan, which is covered under the U.S.-Japan security treaty.
The uninhabited Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan but claimed by China, which cites Ming Dynasty historical records from the 14th century. China has ramped up the number of heavily armed Chinese coast guard vessels its sends into waters around the Senkakus in recent years.
The buoy issue arose during high-level maritime talks in Tokyo last month, where Japanese and Chinese officials discussed concerns in the East China Sea.
At the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba conveyed "serious concerns" to Chinese President Xi Jinping over the East China Sea, the Senkakus, and China's increased military activities in the region.
China's deployment of buoys has previously been tied to territorial disputes in the South China Sea as well.
After the Philippines placed navigation buoys last year to assert its claims within the portion of its EEZ in the Spratly Islands, China was quick to respond by deploying its own in the contested waters. China claims upward of 90 percent of the South China Sea within its self-imposed "dashed line," despite an international court's 2016 rejection of these claims.
Japan-China ties remain turbulent over a number of issues, from the Senkakus to Chinese military threats toward Taiwan and to the stabbing death of a Japanese elementary school student.
Last week, Beijing admitted one of its spy planes had indeed briefly entered Japanese airspace in August, a first-of-its-kind incident that Tokyo called a "grave" violation of its sovereignty.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry with a written request for comment.
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