Twenty people from Chinese companies and a non-governmental group are on their way abroad two fishing vessels to the sea area off China's Diaoyu Islands for an inspection tour of a tourism route, organizers said Wednesday.

Li Yiqiang, one of the organizers of the program, told reporters that this is the first time that companies on the Chinese mainland joined visits to the area by sea or provided funding support for such activities.

The two boats left Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province at 22:00 on Tuesday, and are expected to reach their destination in the morning of Jan. 16 and return on Jan. 18.

They plan to release a monument with an inscription that says "Chinese territory Diaoyu Islands" into the sea area off the islands.

Located off the northeast of Keelung of Taiwan, Diaoyu Islands have been part of Chinese territory since ancient times and an important fishing area for fishermen from the southeast part of the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

Tong Zeng, board chairman of Zhongxiang Investment Company and president of a non-governmental association campaigning to protect China's sovereignty over the island, said they applied for permission to launch the visit according to law as it is a purely legal investigation within Chinese territory.

Tong said that during the voyage they will investigate hydrological, climate and fishing conditions and environment in the sea area of the islands, evaluate the tourism resources in the area, and formulate development plans on the condition that the natural environment in the area is well protected.

The activity has won support from Chinese people in Taiwan and overseas, including a member of parliament of Taipei county in Taiwan.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2004)