On May 2 members of the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands set off on a fishing vessel from Hong Kong to the Diaoyu islands in an effort to declare Chinese sovereignty over them. The vessel was later stopped by the Marine Department and police because it did not meet safety and fire-prevention requirements. According to marine officers it was illegal to sail the boat to the islands because it is registered as a fishing vessel and cannot be used for other activities.
Sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands - a string of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea - has been the subject of tensions between China, Japan and Taiwan since 1968, when Japanese scientists announced the islands were home to oil reserves.
'Way back in the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644) there were already Chinese historic records about the islands,' says Chan Miu-tak, committee chairman, who adds that it was not until the 19th century that Japanese explorers claimed sovereignty over the uninhabited islands.
'It's ridiculous,' he says. 'There's solid history to support the fact that China discovered and owned the islands as early as the 13th century. There's no way the Japanese can ignore the fact.'
After the second world war, the United States occupied Japanese Okinawa - formerly a vassal state of imperial China - as well as the Diaoyu islands. In 1971, the Okinawa Reversion Treaty returned Okinawa, together with Diaoyu Islands to Japan. Since 1971, Japanese officials have repeatedly made open declarations that the islands belong to Japan, prompting civilian protests in Hong Kong, the mainland and Taiwan.
Mr Chan calls this a 'diplomatic conspiracy by the Americans to cause a dispute between Japan and China.
'After the second world war, China was still an undeveloped country and did not have the power to negotiate ... and reclaim sovereignty of the islands. Now China has developed into a super power and we have negotiating power.'