Japan suspects China may have conducted marine survey near Senkakus

A Chinese research vessel was seen to be lowering what appeared to be a wire into the sea within Japan’s exclusive economic zone on Wednesday, the government said.

The Foreign Ministry suspects the ship may have been conducting an unauthorized marine survey and said it had lodged a protest with China.

A Japanese coast guard patrol boat detected the “Xiang Yang Hong 18” carrying out a suspicious maneuver around 130 kilometers northeast of Taisho Island, one of the uninhabited islets that make up the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, at about 8:10 a.m. on W...