Chinese vessel may have conducted marine survey near Senkakus

A Chinese research vessel was seen lowering a pipe-like object into the sea within Japan's exclusive economic zone on Sunday, the Japan Coast Guard said.The vessel was spotted around 236 kilometers north-northeast of Taisho Island, one of the uninhabited islets that make up the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.The Chinese vessel was radioed and urged to stop its activity, the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters said, suspecting it was conducting oceanographic research without prior consent.The coast guard said one of its patrol ships spotted the sur…READ FULL ARTICLE