Japan calls on China to remove buoy near disputed islands

Japan has told Beijing to remove a buoy that it found floating in the sea near the disputed Senkaku islands, known in China as the Diaoyu islands.

Japan has told Beijing to remove a buoy that it found floating in the sea near the disputed Senkaku islands, known in China as the Diaoyu islands.

Tokyo says the buoy was found within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The uninhabited chain of islands and rocks, which lie about 190 nautical miles southwest of Okinawa, have been controlled by Japan since 1895, but are also claimed by self-ruled Taiwan.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an EEZ can extend as far as 200 nautical miles.

“We have been lodging protests in both Tokyo and Beijing since Japan’s coast guard in July found a buoy,” in the East China Sea, a foreign ministry official told the AFP news agency.