Fisheries officials have launched a coral-growing project around two Pacific Ocean islets to bolster a reef and Japan's claims in a territorial dispute with China.
Japan claims Okinotorishima — two uninhabited rocky outcroppings — are islands. China does not dispute Japan's territorial claim over the islets but calls them mere rocks that do not qualify as a point from which to extend an economic zone, as Japan claims under international law.
The fisheries officials traveled to the islets last month with six colonies of baby coral they successfully grew, agency official Kenji Miyaji said.