Suspected Chinese nuclear sub enters Japanese waters
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tokyo, Nov 10, Kyodo/OANA/IRNA -- An unidentified submarine entered Japanese waters Wednesday for about two hours from around 6 a.m., Japan`s Defense Agency officials said, with agency sources adding that the vessel is suspected of being a Chinese nuclear sub. The intrusion prompted the Japanese government to order the Maritime Self-Defense Force to take security action for only the second time ever, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said. But he conceded later in the day that it was only after the submarine left Japanese waters that the order was issued. P-3C patrol planes from the MSDF detected the submarine, which entered Japanese territorial waters off a chain of islets in Okinawa in the early morning from the south and proceeded toward the north, the agency said. Hosoda said in an afternoon news conference that `the submarine`s country of origin is unknown`. But agency sources said Wednesday night that based on sounds captured from the vessel`s engine, it is likely to be a Chinese Han class nuclear attack submarine. "It would be difficult to determine the identity if the submarine does not surface," a senior MSDF official said on condition of anonymity. The P-3C planes, along with two destroyers and their helicopters, continued to track the vessel Wednesday even after it entered open sea, according to the agency. The MSDF has been tracking the sub since early Tuesday but no warning shot was fired. A Han class submarine has a displacement of 5,550 tons when submerged and is about 98-106 meters long. As the Chinese Navy`s first nuclear sub that became fully operational in the 1980s, it has a diving depth of 300 meters and is believed to be able to carry 75 crew members. The Chinese Foreign Ministry remained silent Wednesday over the incident. Counselor Huang Xingyuan at the Chinese Embassy in Japan would not comment on the case, saying he did not have any detailed information and that he had no plans to refer to Beijing. "It is unclear whether there was an intrusion into (Japan`s) territorial waters to begin with," Huang said. Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono said he invoked the Self-Defense Forces law to order the security action at 8:45 a.m., after getting approval from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Ono told reporters that the P-3C aircraft demanded that the submarine surface and show its flag or leave Japanese waters, but Hosoda and the Defense Agency said later that this was not the case as the submarine had already entered open sea. Koizumi told reporters at his office, "We will have to continue monitoring it." The premier said he was informed of the incident via phone at around 8 a.m. The last time the MSDF action was ordered under the law was in March 1999, when two North Korean vessels approached the Noto Peninsula in the Sea of Japan. An order for maritime security action is usually issued to the SDF when it is deemed impossible or extremely difficult for the Japan Coast Guard to perform its task of securing maritime safety. The government this time skipped convening meetings of the Japanese Security Council and the Cabinet in taking the action under a swifter procedure allowed in the event that a submarine is detected in Japanese territorial waters. Officials held their first meeting on the incident at 6:50 a.m., set up a task force at the crisis management center of the premier`s office at 8:10 a.m. and held an upgraded meeting of directors general from agencies concerned at 3 p.m., Hosoda said. The submarine `was moving inside territorial waters near Miyako and Ishigaki islands in Okinawa Prefecture from early Wednesday morning`, he said. The islands lie east of Taiwan. MSDF officers said the MSDF had spotted two Chinese Navy vessels -- one a submarine rescue vessel and another used for towing ships -- operating in waters southeast of Tanegashima Island since Friday, and is examining their possible connection to the incident. The two ships headed toward the East China Sea on Tuesday. Both Koizumi and Hosoda called Wednesday`s incident `regrettable`. "It is certainly no good that an unidentified submarine entered our country`s territorial waters," Koizumi said. "We will have to determine its purpose, country of origin and how it (the intrusion) was conducted," Hosoda said. `We will take the appropriate step` when Tokyo confirms the identity of the submarine, he said. Ono declined to comment if the agency has determined the vessel`s country of origin but said, "We want to solve this issue peacefully." Tokyo has recently been concerned about Chinese research vessels and naval ships repeatedly turning up in Japan`s economic waters without prior notice, which the two countries had agreed to give each other. It has lodged protests with Beijing over the incidents. But Hosoda declined to indicate any possible link between the submarine incident and pending issues with China. Japan began to strengthen protection of its waters against unidentified vessels after it failed to catch the North Korean ships in March 1999. /2322/1432
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