TENSION RISES IN EAST CHINA SEA OVER DISPUTED ISLANDS

A flotilla carrying 150 people, including some Japanese deputies, reached Senkaku, the group of disputed islands which are controlled by Japan and given a different name by the Chinese, Diaoyu.

The Japanese activists said that they staged the demonstration to commemorate the Japanese who died near the islands in World War II and have left the island after the incident.

The Japanese coast guard monitored the demonstration of the Japanese activists closely.

Meanwhile, as the Japanese activists were landing on the islands, a group of Chinese gathered in front of the Japanese consulate in Chinese city Guangzhou, and demanded the activists to leave the islands.

Moreover, anti-Japanese protests were also held in Shenzhen and Harbin of China.

A group of Chinese nationalist landed on the same disputed islands last week, which ended up with the detention of 14 Chinese activists by Japan. The detained Chinese then sent back to China.

The islands had been in the possession of China since 1500's but in 1895 Japan took the control which had lasted until World War II. After the WW II, the islands became USA property and by the end of 1970, the USA left the islands to Japan again.

The dispute emerged when China claimed that at the end of the WW II, Japan, as they said, had agreed to leave a large part of the islands to China, but later denied.

The disputed islands in the East China Sea are also claimed by Taiwan.

Japan had another row with South Korea over a different group of islands.