Japan’s Coast Guard on Friday reported that six Chinese maritime surveillance vessels briefly entered the waters off a group of islands at the heart of a territorial dispute between Tokyo and Beijing. The Chinese ships arrived near the islands, which Japan calls Senkaku and China calls Diaoyu on Friday. The Kyodo news agency said the Japanese government is responding by quickly mobilizing a task force at the Prime Minister crisis management center. Prime Minister Noda said Tokyo will take the necessary measures to ensure security around the islands that Japan has claimed sovereignty over.

Meanwhile, China’s State-run news agency, Xinhua, quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying that two Chinese ships arrived near the Diaoyu islands on Friday morning and began patrolling to enforce the law. Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai has called on China’s Ambassador in Japan to condemn the Chinese ships for violating Japanese territory.