TOKYO (AFP) - Japan said a Chinese government ship briefly entered its territorial waters off disputed islands in the East China Sea on Sunday.

The fisheries patrol boat entered the waters east of Kuba, one of the Senkaku islands, at about 8.21am local time and sailed out of the zone after 16 minutes, Japan's coastguard said in a statement.

Beijing claims the Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, which it calls the Diaoyu islands.

The incident was the latest in a series as the dispute between the Asian neighbours has intensified after Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain in September, in what it said was just an administrative change of ownership.