Tokyo: The Japanese Defence Ministry said that a Chinese navy survey ship entered Japan's territorial waters off its southwestern islands on Saturday, Kyodo News reported. The intrusion comes less than a week after Japan strongly protested against a Chinese military aircraft's airspace breach.

The Japanese Ministry said that Japan, through its diplomatic channels, has again protested to China and conveyed its strong concern over the Chinese navy's latest movement. It marked the Chinese survey ship's 10th entry into Japanese waters off Kagoshima Prefecture since November 2021.

The Chinese naval vessel was detected entering the territorial waters west of Kuchinoerabu Island around 6 am (local time) and left the waters southwest of Yakushima Island at around 7:53 am (local time), Kyodo News reported, citing the ministry.

Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force deployed a minesweeper and patrol aircraft to monitor the Chinese vessel. Survey vessels are often used to carry out research on underwater topography for submarine navigation, the report said.

The Chinese navy survey ship's latest crossing comes after Japan on Monday for the first time said that a Chinese military spy plane violated Japanese airspace over waters in the East China Sea off islands in the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki, Kyodo News reported.

Japan's defence ministry said an Y-9 surveillance aircraft "violated the territorial airspace off the Danjo islands in Nagasaki prefecture" in the East China Sea on Monday at 11.29 am (local time), and it lasted two minutes.

It prompted Japan to deploy "fighter jets on an emergency basis", Kyodo News reported. The aircraft circled above waters southeast of the islands multiple times before and after entering Japan's airspace, eventually heading towards China around 1:15 pm (local time).

Japanese ministry of Defence said that the Japanese Air Self-Defence Force (ASDF) fighters did not use weapons or signal flares.

Japan's Vice foreign minister Masataka Okano summoned China's acting ambassador late on Monday to lodge an "extremely serious protest," and called for measures against a recurrence, the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement.

In recent years, Chinese naval ships repeatedly entered Japan's territorial waters in the East China Sea, around the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which China also claims part of its territory and calls Diaoyu.

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