A protest group formed to assert Chinese sovereignty over a group of Japan-held islets in the East China Sea set out Sunday afternoon from Hong Kong, bound for the disputed territory.
David Ko, chairman of the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, which are known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, said the 30-meter fishing vessel Baodiao 2, carrying 26 activists, departed at 3:10 p.m. from Tsim Sha Tsui pier in Kowloon, Hong Kong and was expected to arrive in the vicinity of the islets early Wednesday.
The group plans to try to land activists on the islets to plant a five-star Chinese flag and spread a banner bearing the signatures of people who want to assert Chinese sovereignty over them.
The group's Taiwan counterpart plans to send at least one vessel to meet up with the Hong Kong vessel near the islets.
Located 170 km northeast of Taipei and 410 km west of Okinawa Island, the islets have been at the center of a sovereignty dispute involving China, Taiwan and Japan.
This year's trip marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Hong Kong activist David Chan, who drowned after he jumped into the sea in an attempt to land on the islets in September 1996.
On Oct. 7, 1996, Hong Kong resident Chan Yu-nam made it to one of the islets with two Taiwanese, planting Chinese and Taiwan flags.
Five members of a protest group departed Taiwan on a boat in August and sailed close to the disputed isles, only to be intercepted and turned away by Japan Coast Guard vessels.
The Hong Kong group had planned to send its vessel Aug. 12, but the journey was deferred because the vessel it planned to use was stuck in China for maintenance.
The committee says it raised 1.8 million Hong Kong dollars last year and bought two 30-meter vessels for HK$ 1.3 million.
from: Japantimes
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Japan will "definitely not allow" an activist protest group from Hong Kong to land on a group of Japan-held islets in the East China Sea and has called on the Chinese government to take appropriate measures to stop the voyage, Tokyo's top government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Monday.
The chief cabinet secretary made the remarks in response to reporters' questions regarding activists who departed from Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon and are expected to arrive Wednesday morning near the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. "Needless to say, the Senkaku Islands are Japan's inherent territory and there is no doubt historically or in international law," Shiozaki said.
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