Taiwan boat aborts protest near disputed islands

TAIPEI—Taiwanese anti-Japan activists who sailed near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea were forced to turn back after being confronted by Japanese patrol boats, officials in Taipei said Wednesday.

The fishing boat sailed late Tuesday towards the group of islands—called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China—but were barred on approach by the patrol boats on Wednesday morning, said Taiwan’s coastguard.

The boat, escorted by two Taiwanese patrol vessels, turned around after a brief standoff with the Japanese side and was expected to return to a port in northern Taiwan around midnight, the coastguard and local media said.

It was the latest of a number of incidents in recent years involving a standoff between Japanese patrol craft and Taiwanese activists trying to sail to the disputed area to press Taipei’s claim.

China, Japan and Taiwan all claim the island chain which lies near rich energy deposits.

Last year, a Taiwanese protest boat was forced to abort its mission by Japan amid a diplomatic row between China and Japan after a Chinese trawler collided with two Japanese coastguard vessels.

Tokyo officially recognizes Beijing rather than Taipei but maintains close trade ties with the island.