Japan buys isles, China sends ships

China has dispatched two patrol ships to "assert its sovereignty" over islands at the centre of a row with Japan, state media said Tuesday.

China has dispatched two patrol ships to "assert its sovereignty" over islands at the centre of a row with Japan, state media said Tuesday.

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The two marine surveillance ships had reached the waters around the Diaoyu islands - known in Japan as the Senkaku islands - and would "take actions pending the development of the situation," the Xinhua news agency said.

The arrival came as the Japanese government announced it had completed its planned purchase of the islands, which lie in a strategically important shipping area with valuable mineral resources thought to be nearby.