A Chinese naval ship chased a Russian warship on Monday just outside Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, the government said, in an apparent attempt to demonstrate to others that Beijing has sovereignty over the Tokyo-controlled islets.
A Chinese frigate sailed in the so-called contiguous zone of the uninhabited islets, which Beijing claims and calls the Diaoyu, for about six minutes from 7:44 a.m., chasing a Russian frigate after the Russian ship entered the waters, according to the Defense Ministry.
The Russian vessel stayed in the waters from 7:05 a.m. to 8:16 a.m. and appears to have done so to avoid a typhoon, a ministry official said.