President Xi Jinping has ordered China’s coast guard to step up its activities to establish sovereignty over islets east of China that are controlled by Japan but also claimed by Beijing, Japan’s Kyodo news agency and Reuters reported on Saturday.

In response to the order, which the report said was issued by Xi in November, the coast guard has drawn up a plan to send ships on daily patrols through 2024 near the islands, which Japan calls the Senkaku and China the Diaoyudao.

Coast Guard vessels will also be tasked with conducting on-site inspections of Japanese fishing vessels if necessary, Kyodo said, citing unnamed sources.

No one at Japan’s Foreign Ministry was available for comment, Reuters reported.

Japan’s ties with China have long been overshadowed by a territorial dispute over this group of uninhabited islands.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated Japan’s grave concern over the issue during talks with Xi Jinping in the United States in November, the Japanese government said at the time.

On December 10, China and Japan accused each other of maritime incursions after their coastal patrols clashed in waters around disputed islands in the East China Sea.