Japan spots 230 Chinese fishing boats

TOKYO: Some 230 Chinese fishing vessels and seven coast guard ships, including four apparently carrying weapons, sailed into waters close to disputed East China Sea islands on Saturday, Japan’s foreign ministry and coastguard said.

Six Chinese coast guard ships were spotted earlier in the day and late Saturday afternoon Japanese officials said they spotted another, which seemed to be carrying arms, in the contiguous waters of the uninhabited islands.

The two countries are locked in a long-running dispute over the rocky islets -- known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China -- but it is rare for so many Chinese fishing vessels to be spotted in the disputed waters.

"We cannot be sure about what the Chinese coast guards are doing for what purposes in the waters," a Japanese coast guard official said.