# East China Sea
Latest news and articles about East China Sea
Total: 5 articles found
Red Flags and Spring Couplets at Sea: How China Marked Lunar New Year on Disputed Islands
State media showed Chinese coast guard vessels and island garrisons celebrating Lunar New Year with red flags, couplets and greetings on disputed features across the East and South China Seas. The displays combine domestic morale-boosting with a quiet assertion of continuous administrative and law-enforcement control over contested maritime areas.
At Home for New Year, PLA Stresses It’s Always Battle-Ready
Chinese military media have spotlighted a theme of intensified combat readiness over the Spring Festival, showing front-line units from coastal missile crews to high-altitude sentries staying on duty. The coverage ties operational readiness to political training and organizational strengthening, sending both domestic reassurances and external deterrent signals amid ongoing regional tensions.
China’s Coast Guard Signals Near‑Constant Presence Around Diaoyu Islands as Patrols Surge
China’s Coast Guard reports 550,000 vessel sorties and 6,000 air missions since the 2021 Coast Guard Law, with patrols around the Diaoyu Islands reaching 357 days in 2025. The data signal a sustained, law‑framed push to normalize Chinese control in contested maritime zones, complicating ties with Japan, the United States and Southeast Asian claimants.
China’s Maritime Pressure Forces Tokyo to Pull Back as Tension Swells Around Senkaku/Diaoyu
Beijing’s intensified maritime enforcement around the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands and renewed East China Sea development have led Tokyo to privately advise its fishing fleet to withdraw from contested waters. The stumble of conservative politician Sanae Takaichi, whose hawkish comments have eroded domestic support, highlights how external pressure is feeding internal political strain in Japan and complicating the U.S.-Japan-China triangular relationship.
Japan Signals Landing Plan on Diaoyu/Senkaku; China Answers with Armed Coast‑Guard Patrols
Local Japanese calls for a landing “environmental survey” on the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands have coincided with intensified China Coast Guard patrols, raising the risk of miscalculation in the East China Sea. Domestic politics in Tokyo and Beijing are hardening positions, while the United States’ security role and regional responses will shape whether tension spirals or is contained.