Japanese politicians land on disputed isles

Huang Hsi-lin (C-white shirt), the chairman of an activist organization that asserts Chinese sovereignty over a group of uninhabited islets, known as Diaoyu (in China) and Senkaku (in Japan) takes questions from the media as he stands on the deck of a boa

Four Japanese citizens, including municipal politicians, landed yesterday on islands in the East China Sea at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute with Beijing, authorities said.
The group sailed to the uninhabited islets, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, aboard a fishing boat and stayed there for more than two hours, according to the Japan Coast Guard.
The move came as Japan and China commemorate the 40th anniversary of normalisation of diplomatic ties this year and attempt to improve their sour relationship.
Three people aboard the fishing boat, which sailed Monday from Ishigaki in Japan’s far southwest, landed on one of the islands around 9:30 am (0030 GMT) while the fourth followed 20 minutes later, a coast guard spokesman said.
Of the four, two were identified as Hitoshi Nakama and Tadashi Nakamine of the Ishigaki municipal assembly, while the identity of the other two were not immediately known, he said.
Nakama also went to the isles in 2010 without the Japanese central government’s permission.
“The Coast Guard’s patrol vessels are always near the Senkaku islands. As their boat approached Senkaku, the coast guard verbally instructed them not to go any closer,” the spokesman said.
“We conducted an onboard safety inspection for their vessel, but the people on the ship disembarked on a small rubber boat and headed toward the Senkaku,” he added.
“We have told them that it was against the law to land on the island. They said they were going fishing. We are not in position to stop them from going fishing.”
The four men returned to the boat before noon and began their return trip to Ishigaki, the coast guard said, adding that the landing was a police matter.
Police in Okinawa, a prefecture which takes in Ishigaki, declined to comment on the case.
The Japanese government leases the islands from private land owners, and bans entry in a bid to prevent political incidents.
The tiny isles have been a source of tension between the Asian giants for decades.
When Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visited China on December 25-26, he agreed with Beijing to set up a high-level meeting on maritime affairs in an effort to reduce tensions.
In September 2010, relations between Tokyo and Beijing turned icy after a collision between a Japanese coastguard vessel and a Chinese fishing boat off the isles, which are administered by Tokyo.
Meanwhile, yesterday a dozen activists from Taiwan and Hong Kong left for the disputed islands shortly after the four Japanese politicians landed on the islets earlier in the day.