Five Chinese activists arrested by Japanese police after landing on Diaoyu Islands in East China Sea arrived in Naha, Okinawa on Thursday.

Police arrested 14 Chinese activists on suspicion of "illegal entry" after seven of them landed on one of the islands Wednesday afternoon.

The five handcuffed Chinese activists got off a patrol boat of Japan Coast Guard (JCG) at Naha Port, shouting out "Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory" to Japanese media, a Xinhua reporter said.

Soon after arrival, the five activists got on five separate vehicles. Okinawa police told Xinhua that they would be sent to different locations for investigation.

The five activists earlier denied their landing as "illegal entry of Japan's territory" during inquiry by police, saying " Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory," according to police.

The authorities will determine whether to send them to public prosecutors or deport them after examining the purpose of their landing, police said.

The nine other activists will be transferred to Naha in the afternoon by the coast guard, a JCG spokesman told Xinhua.

The 14 Chinese activists, despite obstruction by JCG patrol ships, arrived at Diaoyu Islands by a Hong Kong fishing vessel on Wednesday to assert China's territorial claim to the islands.

China on Wednesday lodged solemn representations with Japan on the latter's illegal detention of Chinese nationals on the Diaoyu Islands.

Fu Ying, China's vice foreign minister, urgently summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Uichiro Niwa and made a phone call to her Japanese counterpart Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi on the matter.

Fu reiterated China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and the affiliated islets, and demanded the Japanese side guarantee the safety of the Chinese citizens and free them immediately without any conditions.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2012)