TOKYO - The Japanese coast guard says its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean boats trying to poach in fishing grounds rich with squid off Japan’s northern coast.

Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they have forced more than 300 North Korean boats out of Japan’s exclusive economic zone near Yamatotai since May. </s> Japanese air force jet scrambled around 200 times in the three months ending on Thursday compared with 114 times in the year-earlier period, he said. Detailed figures for the period will be announced next week.

"It appears that Chinese activity is escalating at sea and in the air," Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces, said at a regular press briefing in Tokyo.

Japan is embroiled in a dispute with China in the East China Sea over ownership of a group of islands which lie about 220 km (140 miles) northeast of Taiwan known as the Senkakus in Tokyo and the Diaoyu islands in Beijing.

Japan is worried that China is escalating its activity in the East China Sea in response to Tokyo's pledge to support countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Vietnam, that oppose China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Kawano said that Japan was "very concerned," about how China will react to a ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration in a case brought by the Philippines on China's claims. The ruling is due on July 12.

Manila is contesting China's claim to about 90 percent of the South China Sea, arguing it violates the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and restricts its rights to exploit resources within its exclusive economic zone.

China has refused to recognise the case. </s> Two Japanese fighter jets took "provocative actions" at a high speed near a pair of Chinese fighter jets that were carrying out patrols in the East China Sea on June 17, China's defence ministry said in a microblog statement on Monday, without specifying where exactly the incident took place.

The Japanese planes used fire-control radar to "light up" the Chinese aircraft, the statement added.

Japan's senior military officer has acknowledged there was a scramble but has denied that any radar lock by the Chinese jet occurred or that the incident turned dangerous.

"The Japanese plane's provocative actions caused an accident in the air, endangering the safety of personnel on both sides, and destroying the peace and stability in the region," China's Defence Ministry said, adding the Chinese aircraft "responded resolutely".

China called on Japan to cease all provocative action, the statement added.

The statement about the incident comes after Japan's top military commander accused China of escalating military activity in the East China Sea, saying Japanese emergency scrambles to counter Chinese jets almost doubled over the past three months.

Japan is embroiled in a dispute with China in the East China Sea over ownership of a group of islands which lie about 220 km (140 miles) northeast of Taiwan, known as the Senkakus in Tokyo and the Diaoyu islands in Beijing.

Japan is worried that China is escalating its activity in the East China Sea in response to Tokyo's pledge to support countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Vietnam, that oppose China's territorial claims in the South China Sea. </s> June 21 (UPI) -- Russian bombers violated Japanese airspace, prompting a scramble of fighter planes to escort them away, Japan's defense ministry said.

Two Tu-95 bombers entered Japanese airspace near Minamidaito Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Thursday morning for about three minutes, and one later re-entered the airspace for about two minutes near Hachijo Island in the Izu island chain, the ministry said. It added no dangerous maneuvers were observed.

The planes were later seen flying southward from the Sea of Japan through the Tsushima Strait between Japan and South Korea in the morning.

A "stern protest" against Russia was lodged over the incident, the Japanese Foreign Ministry later said. Russia insisted that the planes did not violate Japan's airspace but flew over international waters during a 14-hour flight.

"Two strategic bombers Tupolev-95MS of Russia's Aerospace Force flew a routine mission in the airspace over the international waters of the Sea of Japan and the East China and South China seas as well as the western part of the Pacific Ocean," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday. "The flight was carried out in strict compliance with the international rules of using international airspace, without any violations of the borders of other states."

Japan did not report the number of fighter planes it used to divert the Russian planes.

A report by Japan's Defense Ministry said its fighter jets had scrambled nearly 1,000 times against foreign aircraft approaching Japanese airspace in the year ending on March 31. Over 340 incidents involved Russian aircraft and 638 involved Chinese planes, it said. </s> The Japanese military says its fighter jets were forced to scramble after two Russian military aircraft violated its airspace.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement on June 20 that two Russian TU-95 bombers approached southern Japanese islands, including Kyushu, from the north before heading north toward the Japanese mainland.

The ministry said one of the bombers violated Japanese airspace twice over the Daito Islands near Okinawa and near Hachijo Island, south of the capital, Tokyo.

The two aircraft then flew along northeastern Japan and the island of Hokkaido before returning to Russia, the ministry said.

The Russian military did not immediately comment on the report.

A recent report by the Japanese ministry said its fighter jets had scrambled nearly 1,000 times against foreign aircraft approaching its airspace in the past fiscal year ending on March 31.

More than 340 incidents involved Russian aircraft and 638 involved Chinese planes, it said.

U.S., NATO, and Russian militaries regular report incidents of foreign aircraft violating or coming near their airspace, forcing planes to scramble in defense. No shooting incidents have been reported. </s> BEIJING, Jan 14 (Reuters) - A stricken Iranian oil tanker that had drifted into Japan’s exclusive economic zone “suddenly ignited” at noon (0400 GMT), and was in danger of capsizing “at any time”, Chinese state television said on Sunday.

The tanker has been adrift and on fire for more than a week following a collision with another vessel in the East China Sea. </s> Three more bodies were found Wednesday in southwest Japan, potentially raising the death toll from last week’s heavy rains to 28, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the hardest-hit areas.

Two deaths have been confirmed, and a third body is still under investigation, Fukuoka prefecture’s Department of Disaster Management said. The confirmed deaths total 27 so far, 24 in Fukuoka and three in Oita.

Abe, who cut short a trip in Europe, inspected a collapsed railway bridge in Hita city in Oita prefecture and was also going to neighboring Fukuoka, where the latest deaths were confirmed.

Rains from Typhoon Nanmadol ravaged southern Japan last week. The worst-hit areas were in Fukuoka and Oita on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island. Widespread flooding and landslides wrecked homes, roads and rice terraces. The disaster agency says about 13,000 people, mostly in Fukuoka, are still staying in shelters.

Abe had been visiting European leaders after attending the G-20 summit in Germany. He canceled a visit to Estonia, the last leg of his European trip, and returned to Japan one day earlier than planned. He returned Tuesday and held a meeting with relevant government ministers to discuss the destruction. During his visit, Abe met with victims at evacuation sites and talked with officials working in the disaster-hit areas.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting areas of southwest Japan hard-hit by floods after he cut short his trip to Europe.

Abe arrived on Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu on Wednesday morning. He will go to the cities of Hita in Oita prefecture and Asakura and Toho in Fukuoka prefecture.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency has confirmed 25 deaths so far, 22 in Fukuoka and three in Oita, after heavy rain caused widespread flooding and landslides. One person remains missing.

The disaster agency says about 14,000 people, mostly in Fukuoka, are still staying in shelters following the destruction from Typhoon Nanmadol last week.

Abe had been visiting with European leaders after attending the G-20 summit in Germany. </s> TOKYO (AP) - The Japanese coast guard says its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean boats trying to poach in fishing grounds rich with squid off Japan's northern coast.

Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they have forced more than 300 North Korean boats out of Japan's exclusive economic zone near Yamatotai since May.

The patrol boats used water cannons on 50 North Korean boats that ignored warnings.

Coast Guard footage obtained Tuesday showed North Korean crewmen on a wooden boat abandon a fishing rope after being sprayed water.

Japanese authorities have stepped up patrols in the area as North Korean poaching has surged in recent years.

Experts say Pyongyang's campaign to boost fish harvests has increased poaching by North Korean boats.

In this late May, 2019, image from video provided by Japan Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard patrol boat sprays water to a North Korean fishing boat after the fishing boat didn't ignore the warning to evacuate in the waters near Yamatotai, Japan. Japanese Coast Guard says its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean poachers swarming toward fishing grounds off Japan's northern coast.(Japan Coast Guard via AP)

In this late May, 2019, photo provided by Japan Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel approaches a North Korean fishing boat to warn them to leave the waters near Yamatotai, Japan. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday, June 18, they have forced more than 300 North Korean poachers out of Japan's exclusive economic zone since May near Yamatotai rich with squid. (Japan Coast Guard via AP)

This late May, 2019, photo provided by Japan Coast Guard shows two North Korean fishing boats leaving the waters near Yamatotai, Japan. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday, June 18, they have forced more than 300 North Korean poachers out of Japan's exclusive economic zone since May near Yamatotai rich with squid. (Japan Coast Guard via AP)
According to the Japanese Government, three of them came down in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone.