Officials in southern Japan reported on Friday that the coast guard had dispatched a patrol vehicle to help a crewmember who was seriously injured on board a Chinese survey ship. The Japan Coast Guard requested the recovery of the Chinese study send Ke Xue on Wednesday, claiming that one of the crew members had suffered a hand injury while conducting the survey off the southern coastline of Miyako Island. The crew, a Foreign national in his 40s, was taken by the JCG guard ship and transported to Naha, on the principal Okinawa island, for medical treatment. One of a number of Chinese survey vessels that travel in lakes in the East China Sea is the Ke Xue, which frequently violates Chinese territorial waters and airspace. China has recently increased its maritime activity and sends study vessels, coast guard boats, as well as warships and plane. Officials in Japan reported that on Monday, another Chinese study ship lowered a wire into the sea south of Okinotorishima, which is where Japan claims the right to do economic activity, without the government’s approval. The study fleet was instructed by the JCG patrol aircraft to leave the waterways, and the Chinese government sent a letter of protest to the Chinese area. ( AP )
