Fleet drives Japanese boats away from Diaoyu Islands

A fleet of Chinese marine surveillance vessels has driven Japanese fishing boats out of waters surrounding the Diaoyu Islands, the State Oceanic Administration said Tuesday.

The Chinese fleet's enforcement of the law had forced the Japanese fishing boats out of waters surrounding the islands as of 10 a.m., thwarting the attempts of "Japanese right wingers," the administration said in a statement on its website.

Three Chinese ships on regular patrol duty spotted several Japanese vessels in the waters on Tuesday morning. The administration immediately ordered another five ships in the East China Sea to meet the three ships.

The eight Chinese ships organized in four formations monitored the Japanese boats from different angles, collected evidence of their infringement upon China's sovereignty and safeguarded national interests, the statement said.

The fleet continued to patrol the waters after the incident, it said.

Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets have been an inherent part of China's territory since ancient times, but tensions grew between China and Japan over the islands after Japan's so-called "nationalization" of Diaoyu Island and some of the affiliated islets last year.

In its latest national defense white paper, China accused Japan of "making trouble over the issue of the Diaoyu Islands."