TAIPEI —

A planned protest voyage from Taiwan to the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands has been called off amid pressure from the government, a trip organizer said Monday, just hours before the scheduled departure. Some 40 pro-China activists who dispute Japan’s claims of sovereignty over the East China Sea islets—called Diaoyu in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan—scuppered their voyage after the owner of the boat slated for the journey backed out of an agreement to rent them the vessel, said Huang Hsi-lin, a municipal council member in Taipei County.
   
‘‘The boat owner was under tremendous pressure to not go through with renting the boat to us,’’ Huang said by phone, referring to political pressure applied by Taipei to prevent the trip from coming to fruition. Huang said the trip had been meant to protest what he said was a recent increase in the number of Japan Coast Guard vessels patrolling waters near the Senkakus. Rich in fish and possibly natural gas resources, the islets represent a perennial flashpoint in relations between Taiwan and Japan, with the Japan Coast Guard regularly driving Taiwanese fishing boats from the area.
   

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  OssanAmerica at 12:58 AM JST - 6th May

  with the Japan Coast Guard regularly driving Taiwanese fishing boats >from the area.

  What isn't mentioned here is that they also would drive away Japanese fishing boats as there is a no-fishing agreement between Japan and Taiwan.

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