A Hong Kong vessel carrying activists who want to assert China's claim to the Senkaku Islands is postponing a voyage to the disputed territory due to an approaching typhoon, the group's leader said Tuesday.
Chan Miu-tak, chairman of the Hong Kong-based group Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, said the vessel arrived in Taiwan waters Tuesday, but local authorities did not allow it to enter the port in Taichung to take on food, giving the crew only fresh water.
"The boat will stay in Keelung (in northern Taiwan), to replenish food and water and to wait for the typhoon to pass," Chan said.
He had said the chartered Hong Kong fishing vessel had planned to make it to the Japanese-controlled islets on Wednesday, the anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II.
The authorities in Taiwan and mainland China have banned local vessels from joining the Hong Kong vessel in the latest attempt by activists in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China to assert China's sovereignty over the disputed islets.
"No boat is coming from Xiamen (in China), and the Taiwan authorities have also ordered a ban," Chan said.