Taiwanese fishing boat spotted near Senkaku Islands+

TAIPEI (Kyodo) - Two Taiwanese activists were aboard a fishing boat that was spotted Wednesday morning near the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration said.
The administration said the activists rented a boat and set sail Tuesday night from Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan ostensibly to fish in waters near the coast.
The administration said it sent five naval vessels to protect the boat, which was also carrying four crew, after discovering that it had changed course and was sailing toward Senkaku Islands.
The boat stopped occasionally as the Japanese Coast Guard issued warnings not to enter Japanese territorial waters, the administration said, adding that it began to return to Taiwan at 9:28 a.m.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that after the Taiwanese fishing boat was spotted Wednesday morning near the Senkaku Islands, Japan immediately asked the Taiwanese side through the Interchange Association, which effectively acts as Japan's embassy in Taiwan, to keep the boat out of Japanese waters.
A Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel found the Taiwan-based ship sailing in an area outside Japanese territorial waters 44 kilometers west-southwest of Uotsuri Island, the largest of the disputed islands, around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to the 11th Regional Coast Guard headquartered in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture.
The boat stopped occasionally as the Coast Guard issued warnings not to enter Japanese territorial waters, but it stayed within the so-called contiguous zone.
The fishing boat did not make any provocative moves and some crew members were seen fishing when the ship stopped, the Coast Guard said.
The boat moved out of the contiguous zone around 11:07 a.m. and began sailing toward Taiwan, the Coast Guard said.
The Japan-controlled islands west of Japan's Okinawa Island and northeast of Taiwan are claimed by Taiwan, which calls them the Tiaoyutai Islands. China also claims the islands.