China/Japan: HK activists land on Diaoyu Islands, plant flag

Morning Whistle ^ | 08/15/12 | Xu Weiwei

[TigerLikesRooster]

August 15, 4:59 pm | By Xu Weiwei

HK activists land on Diaoyu Islands, plant flag

Pro-China activists from Hong Kong Wednesday planted the five-starred red Chinese flag on the Diaoyu islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan, according to Phoenix TV.

Phoenix TV said seven activists have landed on the islands on 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday but three of them were controlled by Japan. Body conflicts didn't happen.

A Hong Kong activist group of 14 people set sail on Sunday for the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, in an attempt to join forces with counterparts from the mainland China and Taiwan to assert China's sovereignty over the islands.

But later counterparts from the mainland and Taiwan didn't join the group, saying there will be typhoon in the waters, according to Phoenix TV.

Hong Kong-based newspaper the Standard said the ship, Kai Fung 2, was stranded on the rocks surrounding the Diaoyu islands where 40 Japanese coastguard personnel were standing by.

The activists are members of Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands. They jumped on to the rocks carrying flags of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, the paper said.

It said Japan sent vessels to monitor the boat as the boat sailed 50 nautical miles off the islands. When the ship approached 10 nautical miles from Diaoyu, a Japanese vessel rammed the boat damaging its front end, the paper said. But all aboard are safe.

[TigerLikesRooster]

This could get ugly pretty fast.

[Gay State Conservative]

China's neighbors will soon understand why the government has doubled the size of the navy every three years for the last twenty.Any dreams that nearby countries might have had of benefiting from all that oil will prove to be sugarplum fairy fantasies,courtesy of the Butchers of Beijing.

[wolfman23601]

The Japanese owe their thanks to Bill Clinton.

[Tainan]

Update as of about 25 minutes ago:

Japan arrests Chinese activists in disputed isles
(excerpt)

TOKYO (AP) — Police in Japan say they have arrested five activists who traveled by boat from Hong Kong to a set of Japanese-controlled islands to press China's claim to the disputed territory.
A total of 14 people traveled to the group of islands, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, on the emotionally charged anniversary of Japan's surrender in WWII. The islands also are claimed by Taiwan.
The Japanese police said they detained five of the activists for violating Japanese immigration law.

Boat has a lot of flags:

In this photo provided by Japan Coast Guard, a Hong Kong fishing boat sails in the water, 52 kilometers (32 miles) west of the Uotsuri Island, one of the islands of Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, in East China Sea, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. Hong Kong activists trying to reach the disputed islands claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan said Wednesday that they were being tailed by Japanese government ships trying to stop them, as territorial disputes continue to raise tensions among Asian powerhouses.

[mikey_hates_everything]

The Chinese Government needs an enemy to rally against and distract the people and has laid a foundation against the Japanese for at least 3 generations.

[SnakeDoctor]

Heh. I read “HK Activists”, and my first thought was “Heckler & Koch”. Not sure if that meant activists with high-end weapons, or activists for H&K ... but I was ready to join the ranks either way.

SnakeDoc

[1010RD]

Bingo. Things aren’t so rosy on the mainland.

[Leep]

Will this effect Sony?