China pledges regular patrols near disputed islands

China has said it will do more to protect its fishing grounds next year, with regular patrols near disputed islands in the East China Sea that were at the centre of a huge row with Japan. The collision of a Chinese fishing trawler and two Japanese coastguard ships near the uninhabited islets, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, led to the worst breakdown in ties between Asia's top two economies in years.
"Normal patrols to safeguard fishing around the Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea will be organised in 2011," fisheries administration director Zhao Xingwu, was quoted Friday by the China Daily as saying. Surveillance of fishing grounds in the South China Sea and Yellow Sea - where one Chinese fisherman died and another remained missing after a clash with South Korean coastguards last week.