'Sincere' probe into Japan's claim about radar lock-on: China

China today said it has launched a "sincere and serious" probe into Japan's allegation that one its frigates put a radar lock on a Japanese naval ship, even as Beijing announced plans to conduct daily patrols in the contested South China Sea islands. "Competent Chinese authority has been having sincere and serious investigation" into the incident, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here when asked about Japanese allegations that a ship locked its fire control radar with Japanese vessel creating a tense situation. The radar incident happened on January 30 near disputed islands in the East China Sea which both countries claim. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has termed it as a "dangerous act" and told parliament that the move could have led to an "unpredictable situation" and called for Chinese "self-restraint". Japan said the incident violated the UN Charter. Japanese officials said the move was aimed gauging Japan and US reaction to such move. Hua said the current crisis between the two countries was not caused by China's assertiveness but by the violations by Japanese ships and planes of Chinese territory. Japan is hyping up the crisis by deliberately creating tensions to smear China's image, she said, adding the move is impediment to improvement relations. Meanwhile in yet another provocative move, China said it would conduct daily fishery administrative patrols in the South China Sea from next year to better safeguard the legitimate interests of domestic fishermen. Wu Zhuang, chief of the South China Sea Fishery Bureau under the Ministry of Agriculture, said the timeframe for the patrols is based on his bureau's growing law enforcement capacity. "A noticeable improvement will be seen in our enforcement capacity in the next two years, as the bureau has entered a period of rapid development," he said. Describing 2012 as "a most challenging year," Wu said his bureau has taken a very strong position regarding fishery patrols and protection. China claims entire South China Sea as its own. Its claims are contested by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. China's recent move to launch patrols to assert its claims were criticised by the Philippines and Vietnam. Wu said the bureau's fishery patrol ships stayed at sea for a record high of 183 days on average last year. "Thanks to our more frequent patrols and quicker responses, no Chinese vessels engaging in normal fishery operations in the Nansha waters (also claimed by Vietnam) were illegally seized by foreign countries last year," he said. More than 400 fishing vessels are currently operating in the South China Sea, most of which will have to usher in the Year of Snake, which begins on February 10, at sea. "Where there is a fishing vessel, there is our patrol ship. We will overcome all difficulties to protect fishermen," said Captain Yang Jia'en, who heads the China Yuzheng 302, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.