Following the direct ballot, public order in East Timor rapidly deteriorated as evidenced by a spate of attacks aimed at local personnel and other staff of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) in western East Timor. Consequently, many foreigners, including Japanese, were forced to evacuate from East Timor. Since JCG exerts all possible measures to transport Japanese citizens, and others, in such situations, it dispatched a patrol vessel at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had her stand by off the coast of Dili.
2] Protection of Territorial Seas and Resources
JCG is tightening surveillance and controls by aircraft, which are appropriate for overseeing vast expanses of waters, of foreign vessels operating in territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Furthermore, following the entry into force of the New Japan-Korea Fishing Agreement and the New Japan-China Fishing Agreement, JCG has been focusing its attention on the main fishing grounds in which Korean and Chinese fishing boats are expected to be operating in numbers, and conducting surveillance and controls of Korean and Chinese fishing boats with patrol vessels, craft and aircraft.
In addition, as a backdrop to the progress of marine resource development technology, mounting interest of countries in marine development and the movement to acquire rights on seabed resources, for example, has been becoming active particularly in the East China Sea, which includes the Japanese continental shelf and EEZ. Chinese marine scientific research vessels are now frequently verified.
Owing to the fact that there is no domestic legislation regulating the research activities of Chinese marine scientific research vessels in the East China Sea and other waters, JCG is unable to take forcible measures, and so in conjunction with issuing rapid reports on the facts to relevant organizations, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, implements stringent tracking and surveillance with patrol vessels and aircraft demanding that they cease their activities until the vessels in question leave Japanese EEZ.
