Japan's Asahi Shimbun (November 18) disclosed that a Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 patrol aircraft spotted a Chinese naval survey ship moving south of Yakushima in a westward direction in the contiguous zone and heading for territorial waters around 8:40 p.m. on November 17.  Japan's Defense Ministry stated this is the first such incident in about four years, prompting an official complaint to Beijing passed on through diplomatic channels.Defence Ministry officials said the survey ship must have “intentionally intruded” into sovereign waters on the evening of November 17 off the coast of Yakushima island of Kagoshima Prefecture, south of the main southern island of Kyushu.

(Comment: Chinese Coast Guard ships have repeatedly entered territorial waters in the southwestern portion of the Japanese archipelago, particularly near the disputed Senkaku Islands of Okinawa Prefecture. However, it is rare for the Defense Ministry to formally announce that a Chinese naval ship had entered territorial waters. The last such incident occurred in July 2017.)