EAST CHINA SEA, Aug 19 (Reuters) - 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.
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.
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.
"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 colonisation 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 neighbours. This is
despite their deep economic links and efforts by Seoul and
Tokyo, both close U.S. allies, to forge closer security ties.
(Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Paul Tait)