TAIPEI/NAHA, Okinawa Pref. A fishing boat carrying Taiwanese activists was spotted sailing Wednesday morning near the Japan-held Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and eventually entering Japanese territorial waters, the Japan Coast Guard said.

"We do not know their objective but whatever the purpose, we will definitely not tolerate the action of entering (Japanese) waters," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference in Tokyo. A liaison team has been set up at the prime minister's office to keep watch, he said.

An aircraft of the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, spotted the boat about 37 km west-southwest of Uotsuri Island, part of the disputed Senkaku Islands administered as part of Okinawa.

The location of the boat falls in the contiguous zone, which is defined by Japan in line with international law as an area where Japanese laws may be applied just outside its territorial waters.

The coast guard said the boat entered the zone around 6:35 a.m. and entered Japan's territorial waters around 7:15 a.m. Four Taiwanese patrol boats were also sailing nearby.

After the coast guard warned the vessels to leave the area, one of the Taiwanese patrol boats responded by displaying a sign saying the waters belong to Taiwan.

In Taipei, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration officials said five patrol boats were sent to protect the Taiwanese fishing boat that sailed to the disputed islands with nine people on board ? three activists advocating Taiwanese sovereignty over the islands, three Taiwanese crew members and three Indonesian fishermen.

They said the fishing boat, which had left port at 11 p.m. the previous evening, reached a point 0.8 nautical miles (1.5 km) from Uotsuri, the main island of the Senkakus at 7:20 a.m.

At 8:25 a.m. three Japan Coast Guard vessels that arrived on scene lowered three smaller boats into the water, apparently to board the fishing boat for inspection, they said.

At 8:57 a.m., they said, three unarmed Taiwan Coast Guard members boarded the fishing boat, which left the area at 9:05 a.m. and headed back to Taiwan with the coast guard members still on board.

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Taiwanese vessel enters Japanese waters near Senkaku Islands