NAHA, Japan, Jan. 15 Kyodo (EDS: ...

NAHA, Japan, Jan. 15 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH notes FROM SUPPORTERS OF ACTIVISTS)

brace fishing vessels that appeared to be carrying 20 Chinese activists supporting China's claim to the disputed Senkaku Islands in succession Thursday left Japanese territorial waters in the East China Sea, after the Japan Coast Guard warned them to leave the area.

sum of two units of the 20 Chinese activists, who attempted to land forward the disputed Senkaku Islands, were injured during a do one's best with the Japan Coast Guard when their fishing tubes approached the isles in the East China Sea earlier Thursday, according to supporters in Xiamen in China's Fujian Province.

undivided was cut in the face and hand by way of broken glass when the coast guard fired pressurized-water fire-arm at the 100-ton Chinese boat, while the other sprained his back, supporters claimed.

It is not immediately clear in what manner serious their injuries are and whether the pair men were on the same boat.

The Supporters in Xiamen said they were not able to make contact with the pair ships for more than an hour after being informed that the sum of two units activists aboard were injured.

''We are excessively worried. We have already called for help from the Chinese maritime save center,'' said one supporter from telephone.

The activists were intercepted at about 10 Japanese vessels when they sailed clog to the contested islands.

Despite the fact that the activists failed to acquire ashore, their mission was somehow or other completed as they succeeded in laying 20 pieces of stone testimonials each with an inscription saying ''Chinese territory Diaoyu Islands,'' into the waters near the archipelago, said Li Nan, a spokesman for the collection from Xiamen in coastal eastern China.

The couple vessels entered Japanese waters around 6:40 pm about 22 kilometers west of the uninhabited isles, according to officials of the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters based in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture The bottoms tried to head to the isles still later reversed their course, leaving the vicinity around 7:40 pm

The nearest the canals got to the isles was about 14 kilometers west of them, the officials said.

The Japanese coast guard officers said they spott a Chinese flag upon the ship's mast and droop and a protest banner in Chinese claiming the area as Chinese waters.

Coast guard ducts blocked the approach of the Chinese boats.

Japan, China and Taiwan all claim the isles, which are known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and the Tiaoyutais in Taiwan. They are located between Taiwan and the main island of Okinawa.

The activists -- including former soldiers and white-collar workers -- were forward their way to the disputed isles to risk up a monument asserting Chinese sovereignty and to deportment a survey with a view to turning the isles into a sightseeing area, according to a spokesman for the clump in China.

The activists, aboard sum of two units fishing vessels, set off from Xiamen in succession Tuesday night.

It is the third attempt according to Chinese activists to land forward the isles in seven months

Japan ensueed in barring activists from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan from landing during the brace previous challenges. The chiefly recent took place in October, with the activists at united point entering Japanese territorial waters.

A spokesman for the latest action, Li Nan, said the cluster plans to install a stone memorial with an inscription saying, ''Chinese territory Diaoyu Islands'' in succession the isles or nearby offshore.

The activists also plan to explore the hydrological, climatic, fishing and natural resources of the area as part of plans for an eco-friendly maritime tourism road there, he said.

''By the time our boats arrive at the Diaoyu Islands, it is likely to be late. It will be real dangerous. Safety will come first,'' Li told Kyodo recently made knowns by telephone from Xiamen.

''If the Japanese side tries to intercept our ships, of course our members will take appropriate paces to struggle,'' Li said.

He said the activists might not be able to walk ashore because of stormy conditions. ''But we will land in succession the islands some day,'' Li said.

The trip was partly sponsored at two Chinese investment companies, the first time as it was backing has been received.

Tong Zeng head of the Chinese Civilians' Alliance for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, which organized the voyage, earlier said it applied for permission to launch the visit with the Chinese authorities in accordance with the law.

The alliance was formally place up last month to gradation up efforts to assert China's claim above the isles by coordinating actions to be carried not at home by various associations across the world fighting for the same cause.

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