Japan nationals raise flags on disputed isle

“The illegal behaviour of Japanese right-wingers has violated China’s territorial sovereignty,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement,saying Beijing had lodged an official protest.

Tokyo and Beijing have been feuding for decades over the island chain,known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China,near potentially huge maritime gas fields.

On Sunday,10 Japanese made an unauthorised landing on Uotsuri island,the largest in a small archipelago known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands and in China as the Diaoyu Islands. Of the 10 who visited the island,five were conservative local assembly members.

Tokyo rejected a complaint by China’s ambassador to Japan,Cheng Yonghua,according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

Days earlier,a group of 14 Hong Kong residents and mainland Chinese travelled by boat to the islands,some swimming ashore. Japan arrested the 14 for landing without authorisation.