New China-Japan tension over disputed island

Tension between Japan and China heightened on Tuesday after eight Chinese naval vessels drove out Japanese fishing boats out of waters surrounding the disputed islands in East China Sea on Monday.

Tension between Japan and China heightened on Tuesday after eight Chinese naval vessels drove out Japanese fishing boats out of waters surrounding the disputed islands in East China Sea on Monday.

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The Chinese flotilla forced the Japanese boats out of waters, thwarting the attempts of “Japanese right wingers,” China State Oceanic Administration said.

The uninhabited islands, called Diaoyu by China and Senkakus by Japan, are guarded by the Japanese Coast Guard.

Three Chinese ships spotted several Japanese vessels on Monday morning. The administration immediately ordered another five ships in the East China Sea to meet the three ships, a report by state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe on Tuesday vowed to “expel by force” any Chinese landing on islands at the centre of a territorial row.