• Taiwanese ships clash with Japanese coast guard over disputed islands

    Japanese coast guard ships shoot water cannon at Taiwanese fishing boats in the East China Sea in a territorial dispute. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By NBC's Arata Yamamoto and wire reports

    About 50 Taiwanese vessels on Tuesday entered waters near a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter territorial dispute involving Japan, China and Taiwan.

    Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed footage of a Japanese coast guard ship shooting water at a Taiwanese fishing boat, while a Taiwanese patrol vessel blasted water at the coast guard ship in reply during an incident near the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands, as they are known respectively in Japan and China/Taiwan.


    The Taiwanese vessels – 40 fishing boats and 10 coast guard ships – entered the waters to protest the recent Japanese government's purchase of the islands from a private owner.

    But by noon Tuesday all of the Taiwanese vessels had left the area, the Japanese coast guard said, after claiming their rights to fish in the area.

    Japan infuriates China by buying disputed isles

    The islands were nationalized by the Japanese government this month after it emerged that the outspoken governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, had been in negotiations with the islands' owner to seal a more provocative deal by promising to build an emergency port for Japanese fishermen and various weather and communications facilities.

    Osamu Fujimura, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, said during a morning press conference that Japan had lodged a protest with Taiwan.

    Yomiuri Shimbun / AFP - Getty Images

    A Japanese coast guard vessel (right) sprays water against Taiwanese fishing boats, while a Taiwanese coast guard ship (left) also sprays water in the East China Sea Tuesday.

    "In terms of the security surrounding the Senkaku Islands, we will continue to work together with the relevant ministries with a sense of alertness, and gather various information and vigilantly monitor the situation," he said.

    "Our position is that this needs to be resolved under framework of our friendly ties with Taiwan, and to deal with the situation calmly," he added.

    Chinese protesters: 'The Diaoyu islands belong to China!'

    While few experts expect a military confrontation, an unintended clash at sea would increase tension, although all sides are expected to try to manage the spat before it spirals out of control.

    NBC News emailed Taiwan's foreign ministry requesting comment on the incident and received a reply saying, "Thank you for your concerns about the issue, and please be patient for our further response."

    September 18, the anniversary of Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria, is seen as a day of national humiliation in China, marked by protests even when relations with Japan are stable. This year's anniversary came amidst a Sino-Japanese dispute over an island chain called the Senkaku islands in Japanese and known to Chinese as the Diaoyu islands. NBC's Angus Walker reports.

    The islands are also claimed by China, which has long regarded Taiwan as a breakaway province that is actually part of China.

    Meanwhile in China, Japan's Vice-Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai began talks with his Chinese counterpart, Zhang Zhijun, the first diplomatic meeting between the two countries since anti-Japanese riots erupted over 100 cities across China amid rising tensions over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.

    Emotional anniversary reignites anti-Japan protests in China

    Before Tuesday's meeting, the Japanese envoy told journalists that he planned to explain Japan's position in a frank manner.

    Kyodo / Reuters

    An aerial view shows a Japan Coast Guard patrol ship (3rd from top) spraying water toward a fishing boat from Taiwan as Taiwan's coast guard vessel (4th from top) sprays water in the East China Sea Tuesday.

    "Considering the difficult situation involving Sino-Japanese relations, we would like to do our best to move our relationship forward,” Kawai said.

    Much at stake for US as tensions rise in troubled China Seas

    A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday suggested that a resolution of the dispute would be difficult.

    "China will elaborate on its position on the Diaoyu Islands, demand that Japan correct its mistakes and make efforts to improve Sino-Japanese relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said, according to the UPI news service.

    Reuters and NBC News staff contributed to this article.

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  • Emotional anniversary reignites anti-Japan protests in China

    Protesters in China rally in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in response to a territorial dispute with Japan. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By NBCNews.com staff and wire reports

    Anti-Japan protests reignited across China on Tuesday, the emotional anniversary marking Tokyo's occupation of its giant neighbor, escalating a dispute over East China Sea islands claimed by both countries.

    Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said he hopes the dispute can be resolved peacefully, but he added that Beijing reserved the right to take "further action."

    Liang held a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who called for "calm and restraint."

    But demonstrations were held in dozens of cities on Tuesday, the 81st anniversary of the so-called "Manchurian Incident" that Japan used as a pretext to invade Manchuria before World War II.

    Tensions have been growing for months in the dispute over ownership of East China Sea islands called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The disagreement came to a head last week when the Japanese government said it was purchasing some of the islands from their private owner to thwart a Japanese politician's plans to buy and develop them.


    Embassy heavily guarded
    Outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, thousands shouted patriotic slogans and demanded boycotts of Japanese goods. Some threw apples, water bottles and eggs at the embassy, which was heavily guarded by three layers of paramilitary police and metal barricades.

    Similar protests took place in Guangzhou, Wenzhou, Shanghai and other Chinese cities as the country marked the anniversary.

    Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

    Anti-Japan protesters march during a protest over the Diaoyu islands issue, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan, in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Tuesday.

    Japan's Kyodo News reported there were protests in at least 100 cities in China. It said about 7,000 people near the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai chanted "Beat Japanese imperialism," "Boycott Japanese products" and "Destroy Japan and retrieve Okinawa" among other slogans.

    Following his meeting with Panetta, Liang said that "we do hope the Japanese government will undo its mistakes and come back to the right track of negotiation," The Wall Street Journal reported.

    "We reserve right to take further actions," he added. "That being said, we still hope for a peaceful and negotiated solution for this issue and we hope to work together and work well with the Japanese government in properly handling this dispute."

    Andy Wong / AP

    A police officer tries to calm anti-Japan protesters in Chengdu in China's Sichuan province on Tuesday as they hold images that they claim show Japanese imperial army soldiers who killed Chinese during World War II.

    Much at stake for US as tensions rise in troubled China Seas

    Panetta said the United States was "urging calm and restraint by all sides" and was encouraging them "to maintain open channels of communication in order to resolve these disputes diplomatically and peacefully."

    In many Chinese provinces, including Liaoning, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan and Anhui, local governments sounded sirens at 9:18 a.m. (9:18 p.m. ET Monday) to mark the Sept. 18 anniversary, the official China News Service reported.

    David Gray / Reuters

    Paramilitary policemen stand -- and sit -- guard behind barriers during a protest on the 81st anniversary of Japan's invasion of China, in Beijing on Tuesday.

    Many China-based Japanese businesses were shut Tuesday as a precaution, after several days in which anger over the island dispute produced occasional outbreaks of violence, including the torching and looting of Japanese-invested factories and shops.

    'Down with little Japan'
    China's authoritarian government rarely allows protests, and the wave of anti-Japanese demonstrations clearly received a degree of official approval.

    Japanese nationalists land on island claimed by China

    In Beijing, streams of people marched past the Japanese Embassy in orderly groups of about 150 people, herded by police who urged them to remain calm and peaceful. Some toted posters of Chairman Mao Zedong, and many shouted slogans such as: "United, Love China, Never forget our national shame."

    Sun Chao, a 26-year-old employee for a Beijing tutoring company, said he was given the day off and came to demonstrate with about a dozen other friends and colleagues. He spent around 150 yuan (U.S. $24) on apples and bottled water that he was handing out to others on the demonstration route and encouraging people to hurl them at the embassy.

    "I want to knock down the Japanese national flag," Sun said.

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    Wang Guoming, a 38-year-old retired soldier and seller of construction materials, said he came to Beijing from his hometown of Linfen in Shanxi province to vent his frustration.

    "I came here so our islands will not be invaded by Japan," said Wang. "We believe we need to declare war on them because the Japanese devils are too evil. Down with little Japan!" 

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Japan infuriates China by buying disputed isles

    By Arata Yamamoto, NBC News, and wire reports

    TOKYO -- Japan has agreed to buy a group of islands at the center of a territorial dispute with China, a government official said on Monday, prompting an angry rebuke from Beijing a day after Chinese President Hu Jintao warned against such an "illegal" move. 

    Japan aimed to nationalize the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea as soon as possible to control them in a peaceful and stable manner, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said. 


    The islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are near rich fishing grounds and potentially huge maritime gas fields and have been at the heart of long-running territorial disputes between the world's second and third-largest economies. 

    Japan’s government held a cabinet meeting on Monday and officially endorsed a plan to buy the islands from their private owner, despite denunciations from China, for a reported sum of $26 million.

    Clinton urges cool heads in Japan-South Korea island dispute‎

    Tension flared anew last month when Japan detained a group of Chinese activists who landed on the islands. But the row may now be having an economic impact, intensifying from merely an exchange of rhetoric, with a Chinese official saying Japanese car sales may have been hit in the world's biggest auto market. 

    "This is just the ownership of land, which is part of Japan's territory, moving from one (private) owner to the state, and should not cause any problem with other countries," Fujimura said. 

    "Having said that, we don't want the Senkaku issue to affect overall Sino-Japanese relations. Because it is important to avoid misunderstanding and unforeseen development, we have been closely communicating with China through diplomatic channels to this day." 

    Much at stake for US as tensions rise in troubled China Seas‎

    But China was firm in its opposition to what it saw as a "political trend". 

    "This is a serious infringement of China's sovereignty and has seriously hurt the feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese..." the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The Chinese government and people express their resolute opposition and protest strongly." 

    Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi called in Japanese Ambassador Uichiro Niwa to lodge a strong protest, while state-run Xinhua news agency cited Premier Wen Jiabao as saying China would "never yield an inch" of territory. 

    The Japanese otter was declared extinct today by the Japanese government after not being spotted for over 30 years. NBCNews.com's Richard Lui reports.

    Japanese govt spokesman Osamu Fujimura stressed that the purpose of the purchase is for Japan to maintain its peaceful and stable control of the islands, suggesting that no new structures will be built, and access to the islands will remain restricted.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

  • Japanese nationalists land on island claimed by China

    Kyodo / Reuters

    Members of a Japanese nationalist group raise Japanese flags as they land on Uotsuri island, part of the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku isles in Japan, Diaoyu islands in China, on Sunday.

    By Chris Meyers, Reuters

    EAST CHINA SEA - Several Japanese nationalists landed on Sunday on a rocky island in the East China Sea at the heart of a territorial row with Beijing, a move all but certain to fan anger in China and worsen ties between Asia's two biggest economies.

    Tokyo and Beijing have been feuding for decades over the island chain, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, near potentially huge maritime gas fields.

    Tensions flared last week after seven of a group of 14 Chinese activists slipped past Japan's Coast Guard to land on one of the uninhabited isles and raise a Chinese flag.

    Japan, keen to avoid a rerun of a nasty feud that chilled economic and diplomatic ties in 2010, deported the activists within days, but the dispute still rankles.

    The renewed maritime tension with China has parallels with Beijing's other recent tangles with Southeast Asian countries over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea.

    China's expanding naval reach has fed worries that it could brandish its military might to get its way.

    Relations have long been plagued by China's bitter memories of Tokyo's past military occupation and Tokyo's concerns about Beijing's rising clout.

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    On Saturday, China urged Japan to "stop the action that seeks to undermine China's territorial sovereignty" over the islands.

    But in a tit-for-tat landing, about nine of a group of more than 100 Japanese who sailed to the island chain swam ashore early on Sunday to one of the islets and waved Japanese flags.


    Three Japanese Coast Guard vessels were nearby, a Reuters TV journalist on board one of the group's boats said.

    The nine activists later swam back to their boats and were being questioned by Japanese Customs officials.

    China protests US remarks on South China Sea

    Japan's government had denied the group permission to land on the islands, which it leases from private Japanese citizens.

    "This is a way of saying to not mess around," Toshio Tamogami, a leader of the Japanese group, said before the flotilla set sail on Saturday.

    The flotilla includes several members of parliament and local lawmakers.

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    "We hope to convey ... both to China and the Japanese people that the Senkaku are our territory," Tamogami said.

    The Sino-Japanese row has intensified in recent months since the nationalist governor of Tokyo proposed the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buy the isles, prompting the central government to make its own bid to purchase them instead.

    Japan's ties with South Korea, where resentment over its 1910-1945 colonization still remains, have also frayed since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited an uninhabited island claimed by both countries.

    Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, his ratings in tatters ahead of an election that may come soon, faces domestic pressure to take tough stances in the rows with Japan's neighbors. This is despite their deep economic links and efforts by Seoul and Tokyo, both close U.S. allies, to forge closer security ties.

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