AFP Japan rescues Chinese balloonist trying to reach islands <\/p>\n
Tokyo (AFP) - A Chinese man who tried to fly a hot-air balloon hundreds of kilometres to islands disputed between Beijing and Tokyo was rescued by Japan's coastguard after ditching in the sea, an official said Thursday. <\/p>\n
The 35-year-old took off from China's Fujian province on Wednesday morning in an attempt to land on one of the Tokyo-controlled islands, the Japan Coast Guard official said. <\/p>\n
It was an ambitious goal -- hot-air balloons travel largely at the mercy of the wind, and the islands are tiny specks in the East China Sea 359 kilometres (223 miles) away from the take-off point. <\/p>\n
They are hotly disputed between Beijing, which regards them as its territory and calls them Diaoyu, and Tokyo, which calls them Senkaku. Tensions have at times reached feverish heights. <\/p>\n
In the event the pilot sent a request for help several hours into his flight and ditched in the sea, with a Japanese rescue helicopter picking him up 22 kilometres south of his goal, the official said. <\/p>\n
The man, who was unhurt, was handed over to a Chinese patrol ship outside Japanese territorial waters, he added. <\/p>\n
Photos distributed by the Japan Coast Guard showed a striped, multicoloured balloon drifting half-deflated in the steely blue waters. <\/p>\n
Reports identified the man as Xu Shuaijun, a balloonist who in 2012 became the first man to pilot a hot-air balloon over northeast China's Bohai Bay. <\/p>\n
On his verified account on Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, Xu posted a short message declaring that he had been returned safely to the city of Fuqing in Fujian province. <\/p>\n
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Japan rescues Chinese balloonist trying to reach disputed islands<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AFP Japan rescues Chinese balloonist trying to reach islands Tokyo (AFP) - A Chinese man who tried to fly a hot-air balloon hundreds of kilometres to islands disputed between Beijing and Tokyo was rescued by Japan's coastguard after ditching in the sea, an official said Thursday. The 35-year-old took off from China's Fujian province on Wednesday morning in an attempt to land on one of the Tokyo-controlled islands, the Japan Coast Guard official said Continue reading