Protest after Japanese pair stage landing

Beijing has protested to Tokyo after two Japanese politicians landed on the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea on Thursday, ahead of today's 75th anniversary of the start of the second Sino-Japanese war.

Hitoshi Nakama, from Ishigaki, Okinawa, and another politician went ashore on Bei Xiaodao, known as Kitakojima in Japanese, on Thursday afternoon, ignoring a Japanese coastguard warning.

'The illegal entry of the Japanese right-wing activists severely violates China's territorial sovereignty,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in Beijing yesterday. 'China has made solemn representations and protests to Japan.'

On Wednesday, Taiwan's coastguard blocked an attempt by its Japanese counterpart to board a Taiwanese fishing boat carrying three protesters sailing towards the disputed islands.

In April, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said he planned to buy three of the uninhabited Diaoyu Islands from a private Japanese investor and vowed to protect them, triggering strong protests from Beijing.

Mainland media carried reports this week on Taiwanese activists' campaign to visit waters near the disputed islands. The Global Times quoted one as saying they almost used a gun during their confrontation with the Japanese coastguard.

Despite the extensive coverage about the Taiwanese activists, their mainland counterparts said the authorities had asked them to keep their own campaign low key.