A leisure fishing boat carrying Taiwanese activists, and escorted by four Taiwan Coast Guard vessels, was sailing to a cluster of Japanese-administered islands claimed by Taiwan and China on Thursday morning amid heightened tension in the region.

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said the fishing boat, carrying a Taiwanese captain, four Taiwanese activists, a television cameraman from a Hong Kong TV station and an Indonesian worker, set sail from Shenao, a fishing port in northern Taiwan, at 1:45 a.m.

The activists said they are trying to bring the statute of Matsu, the Chinese goddess of the sea, to one of the islands so that Taiwanese can visit there to pray for the safely of Taiwanese fishermen operating in the area.