A team from the Tokyo metropolitan government surveyed the Senkaku Islands in southern Japan for 10 hours amid persistent diplomatic tension with China over the disputed islands.
The survey was carried out by the team with the government to purchase the Senkaku from a Japanese family despite protests from China, which has laid claim to the islands, reported Japanese broadcaster NHK.
The Japanese government prohibited the team from setting foot on the islands and they had to survey the islands via boats, spotting a few goats and several types of birds. They also measured the depth of the water between two smaller islands in order to find a suitable area for a port.
Tensions between China and Japan escalated last month after several Chinese activists set foot on the Senkaku, called Diaoyu in Chinese, and attempted to place a flag down before they were arrested and sent back to their home country. The move stoked nationalist protests throughout China where demonstrators threw objects and damaged Japan-made cars as well as Japanese restaurants and businesses.
Last week, the Japanese ambassador to China’s car was attacked by an unidentified assailant.
The visit to the islands by the Tokyo government’s team will likely trigger condemnation from the Chinese regime as well as state-run media, which on a near-daily basis, were publishing opinion pieces about how China has sovereignty over the islands.
The United States handed ownership of the islands over to Japan in the 1970s. Waters around the rocky, uninhabited islands are believed to have natural gas deposits.
