 JCP issues statement on foreign sub's intrusion into Japanese waters Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on November 13 issued a statement concerning the intrusion into Japanese waters near Okinawa Prefecture by an unidentified foreign submarine (November 10-12). The full text of Ichida's statement is as follows: The violation of Japanese territorial waters by a foreign submarine is now a serious issue. No country has a right to violate other countries' territorial waters. The country concerned must take responsibility for the violation by explaining the fact without delay in accordance with international laws and diplomatic rules. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea guarantees "the innocent passage of foreign ships through the territorial sea" provided that "it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State." Stating that in the territorial sea, submarines "are required to navigate on the surface and to show their flag," the Convention calls for specific preventive measures to be taken to avoid possible conflicts with a view to achieving international economic and social developments by establishing "a legal order for the seas and oceans to facilitate international communication." The Japanese government on November 12 identified the sub's nation of origin as China and made a protest to the Chinese government, and called for an apology for the incident. China in response stated that China was investigating the allegation and that it was not in a position to immediately accept the Japanese government's protest and make an apology. The Chinese embassy said that it will immediately report the Japanese protest to the Chinese government. It is now three days since the Chinese government promised to investigate the matter in response to the Japanese government raising the issue. The Japanese Communist Party calls on the Chinese government to immediately make public the results of its investigation, including whether the sub in question is Chinese-registered or not, and whether the Chinese government admits that China's sub violated Japanese territorial waters. The Chinese government should immediately show a responsive attitude if the Chinese government finds that there was a violation on the part of China of Japanese territorial waters. It is very important for countries like Japan and China that share borders to work strictly in compliance with international rules concerning borders in order to prevent illegal actions from taking place. In case a violation of national borders or any other illegal act occurs for some reasons, the two countries must always try to sincerely resolve the matter before the incident develops into a major political dispute. There are some problems that remain unsettled between Japan and China, including demarcation of territorial waters in connection with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. These questions must be settled as quickly as possible through talks in accordance with the Convention, in the pursuit of developing bilateral relations based on peaceful co-existence in East Asia. The Japanese Communist Party calls on both the Japanese and Chinese governments to take steps to resolve these problems. (end) |