The Interchange Association (ICA), Japan's de facto embassy in Taiwan, explained Saturday that Japanese authorities did not attempt to drive away a Taiwanese research vessel from the disputed waters close to the Tiaoyutai islands, but rather issued a warning to the ship. The ICA described as incorrect a news report on Nov. 5 that stated the 'Fishery Researcher I, ' operated by the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture, was asked to leave the Tiaoyutai area. On Nov. 5, a Japanese government aircraft merely issued a verbal warning to the vessel, but did not demand that it leave 'Japan's exclusive economic maritime area' or attempt to chase it away, the ICA said in a statement. As soon the ship was spotted sailing in a northeasterly direction, the personnel aboard the plane warned that 'under international law, it is illegal to conduct marine science studies in Japan's exclusive economic maritime zone without Japan's consent, ' the statement said. Taiwan, China and Japan all claim sovereignty over the uninhabited Tiaoyutai Islands, which lie in the East China Sea about 200 kilometers northeast of Taiwan and 300 kilometers west of Japan's Okinawa. In Japan, the islands are called Senkakus. On Thursday, Charles Chen, secretary-general of Taiwan's Association of East Asian Relations (AEAR), the ICA's Taiwan counterpart, said that Taiwan is not obliged to inform Japan in advance of its research activities in Tiaoyutai waters, which he said overlap the economic marine territories of Taiwan and Japan. Chen made the remarks in response to a Japanese media report that the Taiwanese research boat was warned and driven away from the disputed area. (By Sinyao Shih & Elizabeth Hsu 