China has removed a contentious buoy it placed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, Tokyo and Beijing said, in a move that could help clear the way for an anticipated leaders’ summit this year.

Japan’s top government spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the buoy near the Senkakus, which are also claimed by China, had been removed a day earlier.

“The Japan Coast Guard has confirmed that the buoy, which was installed in July 2023 within Japan's EEZ in the East China Sea, is no longer in those waters,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said, adding that a buoy had been spotted at a new location outside Japan’s EEZ, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from Japanese territory.

China has placed a number of buoys in the waters around the Senkakus as part of what Japanese officials and experts say is a concerted effort to bolster its territorial claim in the area.

Tokyo has repeatedly delivered diplomatic protests to Beijing demanding their removal.

But Hayashi said that another Chinese buoy discovered in December inside Japan’s EEZ south of Japan’s westernmost island of Yonaguni, in Okinawa Prefecture, remained in place. Yonaguni sits just 110 km from Taiwan, the flash point island that Beijing claims as its own.

“Japan will continue to seize every opportunity to strongly demand the immediate removal of (the buoy) in this area,” Hayashi said, declining to comment on the reasons for the other buoy’s removal.

On Tuesday, the Japan Coast Guard said in a notice posted to its website that the buoy “northeast of Taiwan” had disappeared, prompting the deletion of a navigational warning. The location referred to the area of the East China Sea near the Senkakus, which are known by Beijing as the Diaoyu.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular news conference Tuesday that the buoy had “completed its task at the site."

"Relevant Chinese agencies have implemented voluntary and technical adjustment regarding the buoy," Guo said, indicating that it had been removed.

Beijing has said the buoys are intended to monitor ocean currents and weather, though critics have claimed the data, including water temperatures, has likely been collected and employed by the Chinese military. Moving the buoy outside Japan’s EEZ, observers have said, would likely allow Beijing to collect the same data with less controversy.

The buoy’s removal comes as Beijing looks to further improve relations with Tokyo — and drive a wedge between the U.S. and Japan. Beijing’s rivalry with Washington has become increasingly acrimonious following the November election of President Donald Trump.

Japan’s ties with China got a boost in December, when Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visited Beijing for talks with his counterpart, and announced the easing of visa issuances for Chinese nationals. This followed a September pledge by China to gradually lift its ban on imports of Japanese fishery products following Tokyo’s release into the Pacific Ocean of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

China's removal of the buoy near the Senkakus could add momentum to the improving ties. The two neighbors have expressed an interest in Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visiting Beijing for a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping sometime this year, possibly in early May.

But even with the buoy’s removal, the situation in the waters around the Senkakus remains tense, with China Coast Guard vessels spotted near the uninhabited islands for a record 353 days last year, according to the Japan Coast Guard.

On Wednesday morning, the Japan Coast Guard said four Chinese government vessels had briefly entered Japanese territorial waters around the Senkakus.