It was ironic that, as the sun rose over the Diaoyu Islands, the forces of the Land of the Rising Sun were at last to be overcome.
We had arrived off the islands undercover of darkness with the protesters confident, but not absolutely sure, this would be the time. We knew, after all, that David Chan had given his life to prove these barren rocks were Chinese.
The weather was good, although there was a heavy swell. Everything was still . . . but it was simply the quiet before the storming.
What was hard to believe, after months of protests, was that it was all over in a flash. A sudden dawn plunge into hostile waters, a desperate scramble up a rocky outcrop and the activists had achieved their mission: to plant the Chinese flag on the islands for the first time in 50 years.
'The Bull', legislator Tsang Kin-shing, and driver Chan Yu-nam braved the choppy seas with five Taiwanese activists after their boat dodged more than 30 Japanese vessels to get within striking distance of their goal.
From so close in, the mad dash for the shore seemed simple, but with so many Japanese milling around, we still could not be certain.
