China Targets Japan Naval Ship as Tensions Rise Over Islands

By John Brinsley 

Japan said a Chinese patrol boat targeted one of its naval vessels with a radar system designed to calculate a weapon’s firing range, a move likely to escalate tensions over a territorial dispute.

The Chinese ship used fire-control radar on a Japanese destroyer on Jan. 30, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters yesterday in Tokyo, adding that the government will protestChina’s actions. He declined to specify the location, which broadcaster NHK earlier reported was near islands that are claimed by both nations.

The episode may undermine recent efforts to ease strains that have damaged trade ties between Asia’s two biggest economies and brought calls from the U.S. for a diplomatic resolution. Japan yesterday issued a separate protest after Chinese ships entered its waters Feb. 4.

Illuminating a ship with fire-control radar is a “risky” move because it could invite retaliation, said James Hardy, a London-based Asia-Pacific editor at IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly. “It might be one of these situations where an individual captain on a ship said he was going to make a name for himself or act beyond his remit,” he said, speaking from Bangalore.

The press department at China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing, when reached by telephone, said to send a faxed question. The ministry didn’t immediately reply to a fax asking for comment on the Japanese report.

‘Extremely Unusual’

Onodera called the Chinese move “extremely unusual,” adding that a Japanese helicopter had been similarly targeted last month. Until now, most contact between Japanese and Chinese vessels has been between Coast Guard ships or other non-military vessels that were either lightly armed or not armed at all.

Stock markets in Japan and China were closed. The yen slid 0.9 percent to 93.23 per dollar after Bank of Japan (8301) Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said he would step down next month.

Shinzo Abe took office as prime minister in December advocating a stronger stance asserting Japan’s claims on the uninhabited East China Sea islands called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. The administration plans to increase Japan’s defense budget for the first time in 11 years and boost Coast Guard spending to cope with mounting incursions by Chinese ships in waters near the islands.

Tensions showed signs of easing last month after Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping met with the head of Abe’s junior coalition partner in Beijing. New Komeito Party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi handed over a personal letter from Abe and told reporters Xi said he would consider a summit.

Using fire-control radar to illuminate another vessel can be an indicator of hostile intent, depending on the circumstances, according to a manual of rules of engagement written under the direction of the U.S. Naval War College.