Japanese and Chinese vessels are heading towards a possible confrontation in the waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands.

A group of Japanese nationalists calling itself “Gambare Nippon” is in a flotilla of ten fishing boats began steaming towards the islands on Monday night.

China’s State Oceanic Administration said it sent eight maritime surveillance vessels to monitor the activity of the Japanese Nationalists.  It’s the highest number of Chinese vessels to enter Japanese water since last September when the latest row over the islands began.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe summoned the Chinese Ambassador and later vowed to “expel by force” any Chinese landing on the islets. 

“We would take decisive action against any attempt to enter territorial waters and to land on the islands," Abe told parliament, adding “It would be natural for us to expel by force the Chinese if they were to make a landing.”

Japan has possessed the islands since at least the late 1800s, although some Chinese maps dating back to the 1500s show the islands under Chinese control back then.

The US is not taking a position on the territorial dispute, but Secretary of State John Kerry last month said, “But we do recognize that they are under the administration of Japan, and we obviously want all the parties to deal with territorial issues through peaceful means."

"And so we oppose any unilateral or coercive action that would somehow aim at changing the status quo," Kerry said.