Ships fight water cannon battle amid tension on disputed islands

A water cannon battle erupted between Japanese and Taiwanese ships in the latest confrontation over tiny islands in the East China Sea, as Japan met another rival, China, in an effort to reduce tension.

About 40 Taiwanese fishing boats and 12 patrol vessels entered waters near the islands, briefly triggering an exchange of water cannon fire with Japanese coast-guard ships. Japan said the Taiwanese had ignored warnings to get out of their territory, and the Taiwanese pulled back after being fired upon.

It was Taiwan’s first foray into the waters around the uninhabited islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, since the Japanese government purchased some of them from private owners two weeks ago. China, Japan and Taiwan all claim the islands, but they are administered by Tokyo.

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The purchase has sparked sometimes violent protests in China and informal boycotts of Japanese products. Many Chinese have cancelled holidays to Japan over the dispute. Japanese airline JAL says it plans to cut six flights a day from Japan to Beijing and Shanghai from October 10 to 27 after the cancellation of 15,500 seat reservations.

China has also dispatched government marine monitoring vessels to patrol around the islands.

Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers held a meeting on the dispute. While the talks were under way, china’s Cabinet, the State Council, released a white paper via the official Xinhua News Agency on the history of the islands, part of a propaganda blitz aimed at bolstering China’s claim.

While both governments appeared publicly to be seeking to calm tensions, gamesmanship around the islands continued.

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About 10 Chinese vessels are still lingering just outside the Japanese waters off the islands.

Meanwhile, China’s first aircraft carrier has entered service, underscoring its ambitions to be a leading Asian naval power.

It is based on the former Soviet navy’s unfinished Varyag, which was towed from Ukraine in 1998 minus its engines, weaponry and navigation systems.

Named Liaoning after the north-eastern province surrounding its home port of Dalian, the ship began sea trials last August following years of refurbishment.

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So far the trial runs of the aircraft carrier have been to test the ship’s propulsion, communications and navigation systems.

But launching and recovering fixed-wing aircraft at sea is a much trickier proposition. Building the proper aircraft and training pilots to land in bad weather on a moving deck will take years, as will developing a proper carrier battle group.

Beijing has not said what role it intends the carrier to fill other than helping safeguard China’s coastline and sea links.

It has also been portrayed as a kind of test platform for the future development of up to five domestically-built Chinese carriers.

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The Chinese defence ministry’s announcement of the launch had long been expected and was not directly linked to the current tensions with Japan.

In a brief notice on its website, the ministry said the carrier’s commissioning significantly boosted the navy’s modern combat capabilities along with its ability to co-operate in responding to natural disasters and other non-traditional threats.

“It has important significance in effectively safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development benefits, and advancing world peace and common development,” the statement said.

In the China Daily newspaper retired Rear Admiral Yang Yi said the ship would be used to master the technology for more advanced carriers and to train in how to operate such a craft in a battle group and with vessels from other nation’s navies.

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