Expedition to Diaoyu Islands scaled back to just one boat
About 40 activists will head for the disputed Diaoyu Islands on Sunday but a lack of funds means only one boat - not the two as planned - will set sail.
The Hong Kong-based Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands said it was HK$1.5 million short, citing a poor response to a donation campaign. It was also forced to cancel an offer by the Emperor Entertainment Group to raise money through a pop concert because of a lack of manpower.
The committee has raised HK$2 million, but acquiring the two vessels alone cost HK$1.36 million. It could not then afford the estimated HK$1.2 million it would have cost to get both vessels running.
It estimated that a further HK$330,000 would be needed to pay for fuel and manpower during the voyage and HK$600,000 for other equipment, including a speedboat to complete the final part of the mission and land men on the islands.
The all-male activists include legislators Albert Ho Chun-yan, 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung and a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress, David Chu Yu-lin, as well as three or four local university students and members from the mainland and Macau. Mr Ho will be chief commander. A doctor will also be on board.
The boat will set sail on Sunday at 2pm from Tsim Sha Tsui pier. The voyage will take more than 70 hours, with arrival estimated at dawn on Wednesday. Two boats setting off from Taiwan will join the mission en route. They will try to get close to the islands and land some members to raise the flags of China and Hong Kong.
The uninhabited islands, claimed by the mainland, Taiwan and Japan, are surrounded by rich fishing grounds.
Committee chairman Or Wah said they would engage in peaceful protests during the expedition and sail around the islands to attract the attention of Japanese security boats. It was difficult to predict when the trip would end, he said.
The expedition will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of David Chan Yuk-cheung, who drowned while trying to land on the islands in 1996 during the committee's first expedition.
