This is the dramatic moment Japanese rescuers evacuated a sick patient from a Chinese research vessel sailing in Japanese waters.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) said it received a request from the Japanese Coast Guard to airlift an ill Chinese researcher aboard the Xiang Yang Hong 19 off the east coast of Ogasawara on September 27.

Footage shows JMSDF personnel arriving on an amphibious ShinMaywa US-2 aircraft. They dispatched a rescue boat to fetch the stricken Chinese passenger, who was later tended to by Japanese medics onboard.

The JMSDF said: 'Sep 27, near Ogasawara Islands, #US2 dispatched from ARS 71 safely rescued a crew member needing urgent medical care aboard XIANG YANG HONG 19, a Chinese research vessel, by following a JCG request. #JMSDF will carry out missions with strength and integrity.'

Japan on August 31 slammed the entry of a Chinese navy survey ship into its southwestern territorial waters. The alleged incursion occurred just days after a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft briefly entered Japan's southwestern airspace.

Both countries are in a long-running dispute over the Senkaku islands - an uninhabited archipelago southwest of Okinawa that has been controlled by Japan since 1895. The area is said to have potential oil and gas reserves.

Expansionist China has disputes with nearly all of its neighbours as it currently lays claim over almost the entire South China Sea, one of the world's busiest sea lanes. But a United Nations-backed tribunal in 2016 deemed its claims groundless.

The Communist rogue state - accused of genocide for its crimes against the Uyghur population - has been steadily increasing its influence in recent years through investment in developing countries.