Chinese Man Crashes Hot-Air Balloon Near Disputed Islands
The Japanese Coast Guard has rescued a Chinese man who crashed while trying to land a hot-air balloon on islands at the center of a territorial dispute between China and Japan.
The Coast Guard said Thursday it found Xu Shuaijun about 20 kilometers south of the East China Sea islands. He was said to be unhurt and was transferred to a Chinese patrol ship.
The 35-year-old departed China's Fujian province on Wednesday, but officials say he sent a rescue request just hours later, apparently after running into turbulence.
In recent years, several Chinese and Taiwanese activists have tried to reach the islands to make a political statement, but have been prevented by Japanese authorities who control the area.
The uninhabited islands, known in Japan as Senkaku and in China as Diaoyu, have plagued China-Japan relations for decades, but the dispute has grown considerably worse in recent years.
In November, China declared an Air Defense Identification Zone over the area, requiring all foreign aircraft to identify themselves and submit to Chinese demands.
Japan, as well as the United States and South Korea, rejected the zone, flying military aircraft there in defiance of the Chinese requests. They view the zone as the latest attempt by China to change the status quo in the region.
China said its move was defensive in nature, claiming tensions surrounding the islands have only risen because Japan recently purchased some of the islands from their Japanese owners.
China-Japan ties were further strained by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's trip last month to a Tokyo war shrine that honors Japan's war dead, including some war criminals.
Some Asian countries that were victims of Japan's imperial aggression view official Japanese visits to the shrine as insensitive and an indication Tokyo has not properly dealt with its past.
Source: Voice of America
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