AdamInOz comments

Well said Marcelito, they seem be be perpetual Japan apologists and it's amusing to see the double standards. One just needs to read their comments to other stories to see that contradiction

UsnInJapan,

Innocent passage hey. That would indicate it was transiting the area not entering it with the intentions of harassing another vessel. Innocent passage applies to transmitting an area to get from point a to point b NOT what the Japanese vessel was doing. Maybe next time a NZ Naval vessel could express NZs displeasure a bit more bluntly

Vicinosaka,

So how is it different exactly? Japan enters NZ EEZ and NZ gets annoyed. The pro Japan pro whaling crowd here say tough luck NZ. China enters Japan's EEZ, Japan jumps up and down and says how regrettable. The pro Japan anti China crowd ( the same ones as above) condemn China and call for blood. Maybe go read the likes of OssanAmericas comments to compare it's very amusing the hypocrisy

I find it strange that all these posters saying New Zealand has no right asking for an apology are the same ones that support Japan when it complains about China entering its EEZ. So just so l have this straight Japan may enter any other nations EEZ and that's ok. China or Korea enters Japan's EEZ = bad. Oh the irony!!!

Andreas bimba,

Are you kidding me, this pullout started under labour not LNP, this has been on the cards for years and is really no great shock. What is amusing is the fact that the current government is getting the blame for this. It's also amusing that in this article the other cause of this decision is not mentioned and that being the high labour costs. Union driven labour costs have been the downfall of much of Australia's manufacturing and the labour leader as a former high ranking union official that actually lead some wage claims at companies now facing ruin needs to shoulder much blame.... As for labour being returned next election wow that hilarious