Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto met with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing on Monday. The meeting took place at a time when China is causing friction with neighboring countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines because of its activities in the South China Sea.
In the East China Sea, there were three cases in March and April in which Chinese aircraft came very close to Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ships on a patrol. In March, a Japanese Air-Self Defense Force jet fighter scrambled because a Chinese reconnaissance plane approached the Senkaku Islands.
In June, a Chinese flotilla, coming from the East China Sea, passed between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island, entered the Pacific Ocean for training and then returned to the East China Sea, again passing between the two islands. The same month, a Chinese survey ship entered Japan's exclusive economic zone off Miyagi Prefecture.