TOKYO (AFP) — A Taiwanese fishing boat sank after colliding with a Japanese patrol vessel off a disputed island chain, causing no serious injuries but triggering concern in Beijing and Taipei, officials said.
The Japan Coast Guard said the Taiwanese boat made an abrupt move as it was speeding away out of the contested area and crashed into the Japanese boat.
But the skipper of the Taiwanese boat contended that the patrol boat rammed them.
The incident occurred near islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese. Japan administers the chain, which is claimed by Taipei and Beijing and lies near rich energy deposits.
The Japan Coast Guard said its patrol vessel Koshiki was on a routine patrol near the islands when it spotted the foreign ship, which tried to zigzag away when it collided.
Japan said the 16 people on board -- 13 fishing hobbyists and three crew members -- were taken to Ishigaki, an island in Japan's Okinawan chain some 200 kilometres (124 miles) south of the disputed territories.
One person was slightly injured and received medical care while being interrogated by Japanese authorities, chief government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura said.
Taiwan's foreign ministry later said Japan had agreed to send back the fishing sportsmen on board the boat, the Lien Ho.
"The other three people, including the skipper and two crew members of the Lien Ho, will be sent back to Taiwan after the Japanese authorities complete an investigation report," Taiwan's foreign ministry said.
The Lien Ho's skipper said his ship was rammed by the Japanese coast guard vessel and sank some six nautical miles (11 kilometres) off the Diaoyus early Tuesday morning.
Taiwan's foreign ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh said the government had expressed its concerns to Tokyo about the incident.
"We also hope to clarify who's going to shoulder responsibility for the event, and the subsequent compensation issues," she said.
China, which insists Taiwan is part of its territory after the two split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, also denounced the incident.
"We urge the Japanese government to stop the illegal activities around the Diaoyu Island to prevent such things from happening again," said foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang.
The dispute between China and Japan over the islands intensified in recent years after potentially-rich gas reserves were found nearby in the East China Sea.
The two sides have failed to come up with a solution to the gas row even as Asia's two largest economies work to ease other points of friction.
Japan has claimed the uninhabited islands since 1895 when it colonised Taiwan.
The United States seized the islands in World War II and returned them to Japan in 1972 along with Okinawa, despite protests from Taipei and Beijing.
Taiwan's Yeh called for the resumption of talks between Taipei and Tokyo to resolve the issue. The two sides have held 15 rounds of negotiations since 1996 without reaching an agreement.
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