Japan uses water cannons again to stop Taiwanese ships

The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) on January 24 used water cannons on a Taiwanese (Chinese) ship carrying activists heading to the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands currently controlled by Tokyo.

"After entering our contiguous waters, the boat with foreign activists continued to sail eastward. So we used restrictive measures such as water cannons," the JCG statement said.

JCG also said that after being stopped by water cannons, the ship turned back towards Taiwan.

The JCG said the Taiwanese ship returned at 11:30 a.m. Taipei time and will dock about seven hours later.



Japanese and Taiwanese ships used water cannons to fight each other in September 2012.

Earlier, Taiwan's Coast Guard said seven people, including a Taiwanese captain, four Taiwanese activists, a TV reporter and an Indonesian worker, boarded the Chuanjiafu from Shenao, a fishing port in northern Taiwan, at 1:45 a.m. on January 24.

The group of activists said they were trying to bring a statue of the sea goddess Matsu to the Senkaku Islands (called Diaoyu in Taiwan) so that people could go there to worship.

In September 2012, the JCG also used water cannons to prevent Taiwanese ships from entering Senkaku/Diaoyu waters.

The new incident continues to increase tensions in the disputed islands in the East China Sea, at a time when Japan has a new government.

(According to Vietnam+)- DT