On the morning of October 16, 2025, a new incident emblematic of rising tensions in the East China Sea occurred. According to the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha, at around 10:00 a.m. that day, four China Coast Guard (“Haijing”) vessels in succession entered Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
Since the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014 and the beginning of the fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed militants and the Ukrainian government, Ukraine has been subject to constant Russian military intervention.