Two China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels departed from Qingdao, a coastal city of east China's Shandong Province on Monday for a 45-day high seas fisheries law enforcement patrol mission in the North Pacific.
This marks the 11th consecutive year that the CCG has organized high seas fisheries law enforcement patrols in the North Pacific, and the 7th patrol since obtaining the right to board and inspect fishing vessels in the high seas.
At 09:30, the CCG vessels Changshan and Wuhu, cast off their mooring lines in turn and slowly sailed away from the dock at the order of setting sail.
All the law enforcement officers stood on the deck in rows and waved goodbye to their families seeing them off on the dock.
During the mission, the fleet will conduct boarding inspections of fishing vessels operating on the high seas, cracking down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities. It will also strengthen public awareness campaigns and law enforcement supervision of fishing vessels operating in the North Pacific high seas.
The fleet will combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, earnestly uphold the fishery production order on the high seas and promote the sustainable development of fishery resources.
"We will resolutely fulfill this patrol mission with a high sense of political responsibility and mission. Through strict and standard law enforcement, we will demonstrate the the China Coast Guard's professionalism and positive image, earnestly uphold the fishery production order on the high seas, and contribute Chinese strength to protecting marine fishery resources and promoting maritime sustainable development," said CCG law enforcement officer Yang Hailiang.
China Coast Guard vessels depart for fisheries patrols in North Pacific
Japan's ongoing push to revise its pacifist constitution and expand military buildup escalate regional tension, warned Japanese lawyer Kyoko Oe, who urged adherence to pacifism and vigilance against the government's dangerous moves.
Since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office last October, the Japanese government has renewed its push to revise the country's pacifist constitution and accelerated a series of military expansion measures, including increasing defense spending, deploying long-range missiles, and easing restrictions on arms exports.
Speaking on the dangerous policy shifts, Oe criticized the Takaichi administration for bypassing public will.
"We believe that when Japanese citizens are not demanding constitutional reform, pushing it forward through a parliamentary majority clearly violates the principle of popular sovereignty and the obligation to respect the constitution. Moreover, the content of the revision itself is extremely dangerous. [The government] is attempting to change pacifist principles of the Japanese constitution -- the most fundamental part -- and abandon basic concepts, including the renunciation of war and not maintaining military forces," said Oe.
The Japanese government has aggressively accelerated war readiness even under the current constitution, said Oe, adding that amending it will grant the Self-Defense Forces even greater freedom of action at the constitutional level.
"If the constitution is amended, the Self-Defense Forces will gain greater freedom of action at the constitutional level than they have now, and legal interpretations will develop in that direction. Even while the current constitution remains effective, the Japanese government has already forcibly advanced war preparations. For example, manufacturing long-range missiles, which were previously considered unacceptable to possess, and deploying them domestically; conducting joint war games and military exercises with the United States; and massively manufacturing and exporting weapons overseas," said Oe.
The lawyer also criticized Takaichi's provocative remarks on China, saying they have sharply strained bilateral ties and undermined peace and stability in the region.
"We believe that due to Takaichi's remarks made last November, China-Japan relations have become very tense and are deteriorating. Legal experts believe that Takaichi's remarks contain multiple obvious errors. Takaichi should frankly retract the relevant remarks and apologize. Only by building mutual trust with neighboring countries can we maintain our peace, and the peace of East Asia and even the peace of Asia. We believe that what the Takaichi administration is doing runs completely counter to what the Japanese people truly wish to achieve," Oe said.
Japan's constitution revision, military buildup fuel regional tensions: lawyer
