By Mail Foreign Service PUBLISHED: 11:37 EST, 19 August 2012 | UPDATED: 05:56 EST, 20 August 2012 Tensions between Japan and China threatened to boil over yesterday in a row over a group of disputed islands. Around ten right-wing Japanese activists swam ashore the main island in the Senkaku archipelago and raised the national flag. They carried out the stunt to call on China to give up its claim to the islands, which are under Japanese control. Scroll down for video Worrying: Tensions between Japan and China were close to boiling point this evening after a group of daredevil activists from Japan scrambled onto a disputed island and raised the Rising Sun flag
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The dramatic assault by a dozen Japanese nationalists infuriated China, which issued an official protest to Tokyo
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It sparked a number of anti-Japanese rallies across China
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@placeholder coastguards, aware of the row that would follow if any of them landed on the islands, ordered them to sail away.
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They said that not only would they raise the flag on the coastline rocks, they would sing @placeholder’s national anthem, have a fish meal, and then carry the flag to the island’s highest point, where it would be planted.
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He added: ‘China has made solemn representations to Japan, demanding that it immediately cease actions harming @placeholder’s territorial sovereignty.’