[Kuncher]

05 July 2012 1939 hrs

TAIPEI: Coastguard vessels from Taiwan and Japan "bumped into" each other in waters near a disputed island
chain Wednesday, as the Taiwanese vessel was escorting activists to the area, Japan's coastguard said.

The Taiwanese vessel was part of a small flotilla that had been accompanying a fishing boat carrying at least nine activists
to waters near islands known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese.

One of the four Taiwanese patrol ships carried a Japanese-language banner reading: "This is territory of the Republic of
China," a Japanese coastguard official said.

The five Taiwanese vessels entered waters Japan claims as its territory shortly after 7 am (2200 GMT) and left the area by
noon Wednesday, the official said.

"The boat, moving in the same direction as one of the Japanese patrol ships, bumped into it and scratched the paint," the
official said. "There were no injuries in the incident."