The Abe administration is ready to mobilize the Maritime Self-Defense Force for "a maritime policing operation" if a foreign warship enters Japanese territorial waters and its navigation does not constitute "innocent passage" under international law, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday.
"This (policy) has already been adopted (in line with) a Cabinet decision made in May last year," Suga told a regular news briefing at the prime minister's office.
He was responding to a question about a report Tuesday by the Yomiuri Shimbun that the administration has decided to apply this policy if a Chinese warship enters territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
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