Photographs by Stephen Shaver for "Asiaweek"
TAKING TO THE SEA Protesters assert their right to be in the disputed islands' waters after their ship was turned back by the Japanese Coast Guard
No one in power -- in Tokyo, Beijing or Taipei -- wants to go to war over the Diaoyutai, or Senkaku Islands, as they are named in Japanese. But fervent nationalists in Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong are hell-bent on making them an issue.
The dispute over who owns the five uninhabited islands, right, and three reefs re-emerged in July after years of obscurity when several young Japanese rightists threw up a makeshift lighthouse on one of the islets. In August another group planted a Japanese flag on a nearby outcropping. "The government is too frightened of China to put up a lighthouse, so we had to do it," one demonstrator declared.
Retaliating, protesters from Taiwan and Hong Kong set out to tear down what the Japanese put up. Their efforts resulted in the accidental death of David Chan, the Hong Kong activist who organized the protest. Onboard an aging freighter, 18 Hong Kong and Taiwanese protesters -- accompanied by 42 journalists, including Asiaweek photographer Steven Shaver, who recorded the tragedy -- sailed into the disputed area. Until then, official responses had been muted: Japanese Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro quickly distanced the government from his Liberal Democratic Party's claim that the islands are "part of our territory." Taipei reasserted its territorial claim, but called for calm discussion. Beijing made an obligatory diplomatic protest but quelled internal dissent, although some activists managed to make public statements denouncing Japan. But the issue has not died: other groups are promising to return to the islands in the near future.
Fatal Entanglement Snared in the lifeline that tied him to fellow protesters and the freighter, Hong Kong activist David Chan (left) gasps his last breaths before drowning. He told reporters: "No one can stop us except with bullets."
Resuscitation: Attempts to revive the 45-year-old Chan failed
A Japanese rescue crew from a circling helicopter managed to save a second protester
A Martyr Found? Chan's family pay their respects at a public ceremony to honor the veteran political organizer
Anger and Grief: Chan's death capped a month of rising resentment against Japan in Hong Kong, where issues of patriotism resonate strongly in the run-up to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. More than 10,000 people turned out to mourn the man and denounce Japan.
