Senkaku Islands intruders sent back to China
News On Japan via Yomiuri -- Aug 18

Japanese authorities on Friday deported seven of the 14 people from Hong Kong who were arrested this week on or near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on charges of violating the immigration control law.

The 14 people included five Chinese members of a Hong Kong-based activist group who were arrested by the Okinawa prefectural police on Wednesday after landing on Uotsurijima island. The Senkakus are claimed by China and called Diaoyu in the country.

The five members of the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, along with two members of a television crew, left from an airport in Okinawa. The remaining seven, including the boat captain, were sent separately to Okinawa's Ishigaki island by air to be deported on the ship they used to reach the islands.

The deportations came after Okinawa police carried out a thorough investigation but found no violations other than illegal landing and intrusion into Japanese waters, a senior police official said.

Source: Yomiuri



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